For our Season 12 Intermission, my wife, Becky, joins me for a lighthearted look at what’s going on in the Troutbitten world. We talk about the upcoming leader sale in the Troutbitten Shop (August 21). We talk about the New Trail Troutbitten beer, the event and the video. And we talk about the Fish and Film series on YouTube.
Becky and I also answer a bunch of fun questions from listeners.
The leader should match the moment and match the angler. It should match the fly, the river and the wind conditions. Adjustments are necessary, and when they’re performed often enough they become intuitive.
An objective look at real goals for the dry fly, along with the true capabilities of the leader materials at hand, will lead anyone down the path toward a great leader formula for dry flies.
While many anglers might consider the leader as an afterthought, we believe the leader is the most consequential element in the system. The leader always matters, but it’s most important while trying to achieve dead drifts with a dry fly.
The drag free drift — a high percentage of the time, that’s what catches trout on top. So aiming for perfection on a dead drift sets the baseline. And if you get those great drifts, but they won’t eat it, try some animation.
Everything works sometimes. So we’re ready to try anything. But we spend the most time with tactics that produce with the highest rate of return. That’s just common sense.
My friend, Matt Grobe, joins me for this second episode in our Dry Fly Skill Series, to walk through what a drag free drift really is, how critical perfect drifts really are, and when/how we animate the fly. a fly rod can do.
We argue that dry flies are the heart and soul of fly fishing. The visual aspect is fun and exciting. And the pleasures of topwater fishing should not be missed.
Also, presenting dry flies is what makes fly fishing unique. And learning the skills to cast a dry teaches you everything about what a fly rod can do.
Prospecting is a strategy for covering water. It’s about pace. The truth is, we’re searching for something on every cast, no matter what our approach is. But what we call prospecting is a bit different. It’s about canvassing an area, casting a wider net, searching for that next fish and then the next one. Then we take that data about where and how trout are feeding, and we use it to inform our next decision.
On Wednesday June 5th at 8:00 p.m. EST, the next Troutbitten LIVESTREAM Podcasts features Tom Rosenbauer as our guest. Join us and be part of the conversation. This LIVESTREAM is a conversation around stocked trout and club water.
Here’s a story about the solitude that so many of us seek on the water — how the full experience of planning for a trip, driving before dawn, walking in and exploring a river valley provides a respite from our daily life. It’s a chance for a clear mind and for renewed energy. “The Further You Walk, the More You Leave Behind” is about what we recover when we commit to full days and long distances, and how even after we return, we are changed.
We’re here for a tough conversation. This one’s about fishing the pay-to-play setup of a club. Not all clubs stock fish, and not all clubs are a bad choice. But in short, we believe things can be better.
There’s an intangible quality built into the best anglers. It’s about being comfortable and natural around the water. It’s about having an instinct and a guiding intuition on a river that informs decision without even giving it much thought. It’s an innate knowledge of the environment and what will happen next. Knowledge of the woods, water, weather and the trout comes together with ease and adds up to something that is hard to identify.
It’s the companionship and teamwork, along with the effort and commitment required to get down the river. It’s about a good lunch and friendly banter as much as the novel approach to tactics and the pure advantage of accessing more water.
From the put in to the take out, boating changes everything. It’s a wonderful way to learn a river and to connect with friends.
From the bottom to the top, when the bugs transform from water born to airborne, meeting the with an emerger often sells the presentation.
Our conversation in this episode covers those emergences . . .