The Q&A series on Troutbitten is an effort to answer some of the most common questions I receive. Here's the latest . . . Question This is from Bryon Marongoni in Logan, Utah. Hey Dom, I’ve read and absorbed Troutbitten content for a few years. On many days, I’m...
** NOTE ** Video for the Golden Ratio appears below There are two parts about the path of a dead-drifted nymph that matter most. The fly should stay in just one lane, and it should travel at the natural speed of the target zone. On a tight line system, both of these...
** NOTE ** Video for the Lift and Lead appears below. Also, please find the full Lift and Lead article that introduces this one. There you'll find a full breakdown of the concept, along with diagrams. READ: Troutbitten | Tight Line and Euro Nymphing -- The Lift and...
Today's article is a remix from a couple years ago. You can find it here: Why Are Summer Trout Harder to Catch? Enjoy the day. Domenick Swentosky T R O U T B I T T E N domenick@troutbitten.com
Rivers are in a perpetual state of change, and the trout’s feeding patterns respond to those changes.
There are many factors that encourage trout to move into and feed in certain types of water. While the real-world conditions and events are infinite, there are five major factors that influence where and how trout feed in a river. They are: water temperature, water levels and water clarity, hatches, bug and baitfish activity, light conditions, and spawning activity.
And if we learn to recognize all of this, we have the keys to the puzzle.
As you wade the river, or when you’re on a float trip that covers miles of great water, you’re looking for moments — you’re looking for places — to make that next adjustment.
I call these the changeout spots . . .
Fly selection is important, but it’s one of the last questions to ask. There’s no denying that catching a few trout helps lead us to the promise of catching a few more. One trout is an accident. It’s just as likely that you found a maverick as it is that a single fish can teach you the habits of the rest. Two fish is a coincidence, but three starts to show a trend. And at a half dozen fish, there’s enough data about who, what, where, when and why to build the pieces of a puzzle.
To the die-hard angler, adaptation and adjustment to what we discover is one of the great joys of fly fishing for trout . . .
Trout learn to see some colors, some materials, some shapes and movements as fake. And when they see the same fake fly often enough, they stop eating it. That’s what we mean by angler pressure. So, part of the game becomes a guess about what flies the trout have learned to reject and how we can turn the fish on again.
That’s the unnatural thing about trout seeing too many fishermen and too many flies . . .
For the majority of our tactics, fishing upstream is the best way to present the flies. And sometimes it’s the only way to get the preferred drift.
So too, working upstream allows for stealth. The angler becomes the hunter. With a close, targeted approach to smaller zones, we get great drifts in rhythm, one at a time . . .
Knots are personal. I don’t believe in any of the knot strength tests because there are too many variables. And what I know about the performance of my favorite Davy, for example, conflicts with the (I’ll say it) myth of its inferior breaking strength. My Davy’s are strong. But I don’t know about yours. That’s for you to find out . . .