I saw the line tighten just before I felt it. A smooth flick of the wrist downstream effectively set the hook, and I was into a good trout. That’s four, if I can land it, and halfway to my creel limit, I thought. I was four fish away from trout dinner and the primal...
** This article is from deep in the Troutbitten Archives -- August of 2016. ** That pivotal moment when everything changes. The event that makes the trip. The defining instance that separates all the memories that come before from the ones that come after. It’s what I...
His mother called him “Will,” because “William” was too big of a name for a small boy. But when his father needed to make a strong point, he was called “William.” On a large tract of farmland, stretched along a rocky shelf high above the river, Will and his brother...
If I had a million dollars I would still approach fly fishing with a low budget mindset. I guess it comes from my fishing roots as a boy: cheap spinning tackle, rubber hip boots (big enough that I would "grow into 'em"), minnows and some Berkley Trilene. We used 6lb...
. . .I’ve gone through a couple phases of trophy hunting, but I’m always careful to return to my roots before the obsession overtakes me. I don’t want to lose my enjoyment for the simple things on the water: the friendships, the forests, the mountains, the mysteries and the way thick, cool moss on limestone feels like a sofa cushion for a mid-stream lunch. Those are the good things that are available every time I put on my waders, even though the big fish usually aren’t.
While going in and out of these phases of trophy hunting for wild browns, I’ve learned that I was looking for big trout in the wrong places. I had to seek out new rivers. And sometimes, I simply had to find new places on my old rivers. Point is, I learned that trophy hunters need a target. It’s not enough to go to the same places and fish the same ways as you always have. You have to learn where the big fish are, go there, and put on your patience pants — because Whiskeys don’t come easily . . .
Gonna let the pictures tell most of the story today. We've been enjoying the cooler weather in the last month or so, and the boys have been putting a twelve foot Tenkara rod to good use. My parents bought the rod for the boys' birthdays, and the length of the rod,...
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.” This time, he finally experienced the certainty that a couple of good head shakes from a trout will give you . . .
The sixty-day period allotted by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission for comments on the proposed changes to specially regulated waters designated Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only (DHALO) is coming to an end. I'm not going to go into a diatribe here listing...