Jigging is a time-tested tactic that produces across all fishing styles. Moving the fly, lure or bait up before allowing it to fall has fooled fish from the beginning, everywhere they swim. In fact, jigging might very well be the most primeval presentation. Dunk the...
Something inside the angler changes when we fish a streamer. Clip off the dry fly and swap out the nymph. Get rid of the notion that we’re imitating a small helpless food form with a dead drift, and start moving that streamer through the water. Bring it to life —...
 The Troutbitten Podcast, Episode 10, is now available everywhere that you find and listen to your podcasts. ** Note ** The Podcast Player is below. The full story of "The Kid " is also published below. Way back in 2014, I started Troutbitten as a way to document...
 The Troutbitten Podcast, Episode 9 is now available everywhere that you find and listen to your podcasts. ** Note ** The Podcast Player and links to your favorite providers appear below While fishing a streamer, we’re trying to make it look alive. That's the...
Watching your streamer is fun. It’s educational, and it helps to dial in great action on the fly. But if you’re not careful, you’ll start moving the fly so you can see it instead of moving the fly to attract a trout . . .
A good streamer bite comes with a shot of adrenaline, especially when the strips are fast and aggressive. As we see a wild trout attack the fly, our natural reaction is one of excitement. We set the hook, and all too often we continue the fast and aggressive motions of our retrieve. The trout never has a chance to get back down through the water column, and we mistakenly fight the fish fast and near the surface. Unfortunately, that’s the worst place for a trout, if you want it to stay attached.
Rarely does a population of trout fall all over themselves to eat a streamer, no matter how well it’s presented. And I think it’s unfair to advance the notion that fish are out there waiting to pounce on your streamer if you just get the presentation right . . .
Over time, over endless conversation, cases of craft beer and thoughtful theories, we came to understand that our hook sets were rarely at fault. No, we set fast and hard. We were good anglers, with crisp, attentive sets. The high percentage of misses were really the trout’s decision. We summarized it this way: Sometimes a trout misses the fly. Sometimes a trout refuses the fly. And sometimes a trout attempts to stun the fly before eating it . . .
Hundreds of times Aiden has snagged the bottom, pulled the rod back, and either asked me if that was a fish or has told me flatly, “I think that was a fish.” Â This time, he finally experienced the certainty that a couple of good head shakes from a trout will give you . . .
I had a great conversation with Dave Stewart on his Wet Fly Swing podcast. We talked about streamers, nymphs, the Mono Rig and how Troutbitten has grown into a fly fishing company and become my full time career . . .