John crossed the bridge with his head down. He watched each wading boot meet a railroad tie before picking up his other foot for the next step. Cautiously, he walked the odd and narrow gait required when walking the tracks. And with nothing but air between each...
Cover more water and catch more trout. It’s a common theme running through these Troutbitten pages and one that surely puts more fish in the net — if you’re committed to it. And while there’s certainly a danger of taking this concept of constant motion to...
Long days on the water are best finished with some leisure time back at the truck. So as the guys trickled in, one by one after dusk, my waterlogged waders were already rolled up. I’d just broken the rod down and popped the top on a Troegs IPA when Smith walked...
Today's post is a remix of a Troutbitten article from 2017. Find it here: READ: Troutbitten | Let's talk about tippet -- Three questions about the end of the line in a fly fishing rig Enjoy the day. Domenick Swentosky T R O U T B I T T E N...
I’m part of the last generation to learn things without the aid of the internet. When I taught myself to fly fish in the nineties, the web was in its infancy, so my tutelage happened through a few books, some magazine articles and a lot of trial and error — emphasis...
I’ve often said that my best strategy for catching a big brown trout is to fool a bunch of trout, and one of them will be big. But I don’t believe that so completely anymore.
Let me say, right up front, that I have some friends who seem to accomplish high numbers and big fish in the same day all too often. My buddy, Matt Grobe, kinda tears it up out in Montana. But Matt’s always been a lucky bastard, so let’s just leave it at that.
In all honesty, Matt agrees with the premise that you can’t have both. I just checked. He said yes. So we have his blessing here to continue.
In the last five years I’ve shared the water with Burke a lot too, and I’ve learned some strategies about big fish fishing.
There are some truths, some guiding principles for targeting larger trout, and the list starts like this: #1: Stop trying to catch a bunch of fish . . .
Watching a trout take your fly — it’s one of the most exciting aspects of this game. All fly anglers talk about it. Streamer guys love watching the transient swirl just before a hulking brown crushes the fly. Dry fly guys patiently tie strands of visible flash into...
Easily wadeable, quick to clear after a storm, and holding stable temperatures year-round, my home water is the best classroom a trout fisherman could ask for. The trout are eager, but not easy. And that’s a hell of a good combination.
I’ve had old timers tell me that leader and tippet technology is the biggest advancement in fly fishing over the last half-century. Within my own twenty-five years of fly fishing, I’ve seen fly shop wall space grow to include tippet spools of nylon and fluorocarbon in all X sizes (sometimes in half sizes too), with most manufacturers offering multiple options for stiffness and breaking strength in each diameter.
It’s all gotten a little complicated, I suppose, and my friends at TCO tell me that fielding confused questions about tippet is a daily chore. So let’s answer three important questions about tippet. What type? (Nylon vs Fluorocarbon.) What size? (How thick of a diameter is best?) And how long should your tippet section be?
Note: this article is not intended to be a comprehensive write-up for all things tippet. Google search will supply you with that. Instead, I’ll give you a real world, stream-level account of what works for me and the Troutbitten guys.
** This post is from contributing author, Chris Kehres. ** Editor's Notes Trout fishing the long summer months means deeply shortened hours and far fewer opportunities. Finding cold enough water can be tough, and a stream thermometer becomes the most valuable tool in...