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VIDEO: The Perfect Parachute Ant — Troutbitten Fly Box
The Perfect Parachute Ant is so effective and so versatile for me, that it’s the only terrestrial I carry in my box, most days . . .
How Big of an Ask?
Are trout opportunistic feeders? Sure, but it depends on the opportunity. We choose the fly and decide how to present it. We then pick what water will receive the cast. And to inform those decisions, it’s critical to understand what we’re asking the trout to do.
How big of an ask is it?
And how opportunistic do we expect the trout to be?
Here are a few examples . . .
The Troutbitten Hazy IPA with New Trail Brewing Company is Here
We made a Troutbitten beer and it’s ready to drink! We got together with our friends at New Trail Brewing company and brewed a Troutbitten Hazy IPA. We’ve been working on this project for over a year, and it’s been a lot of fun to work with our favorite brewery. Being involved in the planning and brewing process was rewarding. Now it’s time to have a beer.
STORIES
The Foundation
There is tranquility and stillness here — a place to do nothing but think. And that alone is valuable. Because there aren’t many places like this left in the world . . .
Dog Days
Fishing the summer months is a protracted game of hide and seek, where more often, the angler loses. Every condition favors the trout.
It’s August, and we need rain again. The rivers have taken on a familiar, thirsty look — deep in the heart of summer. Water trickles through the pockets. It sinks into dry rocks like a sponge. We see the skeleton of an ecosystem. And the distilled, clear flow is low enough to reveal the watershed’s deepest secrets. Wading these wet trails requires composure and patience . . .
Lost Fishing Friends
The lost friendship transforms a river bend — that one with the ancient and hollowed-out sycamore — into an active tombstone. The towering tree with the undercut bank becomes a place to remember shared moments of casting into cool waters, where the ghosts of laughter and fond companionship persists.
TACTICS
Leaders, Hats, Stickers Back in the Troutbitten Shop (Spring Sale ’23)
Troutbitten leaders are back in the Shop. There are some unique features to Troutbitten leaders that make a big difference. These are hand tied leaders in four varieties: Harvey Dry Leader, Standard Mono Rig, Thin Mono Rig, and Micro-Thin Mono Rig. Standard Sighters are also available, and they include a Backing Barrel. The Full Mono Rig Kit contains each of the three Mono Rig leaders, three foam spools and a twenty-inch Rio Bi-Color extension.
All Troutbitten leaders come on a three-inch spool, making long leader changes a breeze . . .
A Good Fishing Pace
A good fishing pace need not be fast, but it should flow and be efficient. And it might be the most important thing out there.
It comes from intention, from having a plan and following through. Surely, adjusting our plan along the way is part of the fun, but pace remains an element that every angler can set, every day . . .
Reading Water in Levels, Lanes and Seams (with VIDEO)
Reading water is a base level skill for every river angler. While mystifying at first, finding the features of moving water becomes second nature in short order. Then, the river opens up and reveals itself, signaling where trout hold, where to cast and how to achieve the necessary presentations.
Levels, lanes and seams are not the structure of a river itself. Instead, the structures of a river — a wide gravel bar, a small island or a midstream boulder create the lanes and seams — the features of your favorite water.
This is how we read a river . . .
NYMPHING
Why and When | Drop Shot Nymphing on a Tight Line Rig — Pt.2
Drop shot nymphing on a tight line system puts the angler in control of every part of the drift. By using the riverbed as a reference, you then choose the speed, level and lane-travel of the flies.
That control is a double-edged sword. While the benefits of contact and control are infinite, there is a downside — you must get everything just right. Ultimate control is a big responsibility. And in many ways, it’s easier to choose a pair of light nymphs with no shot and simply track the nymph’s progress downstream, letting the river make all the important decisions.
Learning and refining that presentation is a daily challenge. . . .
The Hop Mend (with VIDEO)
We mend to prevent tension on the dry fly or the indicator. All flies could drift drag free in the current if not for tension from the attached leader. So it’s our job to eliminate or at least limit that tension on the tippet and to the fly.
This Hop Mend is an arch. It’s a steep and quick half-oval. It’s a fast motion up, over and down with the fly rod. It’s powerful and swift, but not overdone . . .
Drop Shot Nymphing on a Tight Line Rig — Pt.1
As the years pass, I’ve found a few refinements, I’ve learned a few advantages that lead me toward drop shot as the solution for more on-stream problems. It’s a tactic that has its place alongside all the other ways that I like to drift nymphs. Because the principles of dead drifting a nymph usually come down to imitating a natural drift as close as possible, but the methods for doing so are remarkably varied.
Every river scenario has a solution. And quite often, drop shotting is the perfect answer.
STREAMERS
Streamers as an Easy Meal — The Old School Streamer Thing
The modern streamer approach asks trout to get up and chase something down, to kill it and eat it, while the old school streamer game presents an easily available chunk of protein to the trout. It doesn’t ask the fish to chase very much. In essence, old school streamers come to the trout, and modern streamers flee from the trout . . .
Modern Streamers: Too much motion? And are we moving them too fast?
Is a big, articulated streamer with marabou, flashabou, rubber legs, polar chenille, rabbit strip, hen hackle and a lazer dub collar actually moving too much? Are there too many elements in motion for a trout to reject? And might we do better with streamers that...
ANGLER TYPES IN PROFILE
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BIG TROUT
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NIGHT FISHING
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MORE
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