In the third part of this critical nymphing concepts series, we consider the advantages and disadvantages of fishing with a suspender. We cover the following Indicator styles and why the type matters Not all indicators are created equal Choosing tight line or indy, or combing both What you lose by adding and indy What you gain by adding an indy Complications of an indy style What is commonly missed when using an indy Reading an indicator A few more tips . . . Resources READ: Troutbitten | It's a...
Jan 28, 2024•46 min•Season 10Ep. 3
In this second episode of our Critical Nymphing Concepts series, my friend, Austin Dando, and I walk through the idea — the concept — of having more influence or less over the flies. Meaning, who or what is in charge of the nymphs? Is it you or the river? And do we want to have more influence over the flies or less? What looks more natural? Which choice — which method — fools more trout? We cover the following What is influence and what's in charge of the nymph's path? Does less influence look m...
Jan 21, 2024•46 min•Season 10Ep. 2
This Season Ten skills series is about the critical concepts of nymphing. In seven episodes this season, we're covering the what and the why of nymphing. The techniques we work on are physical skills necessary to get great drifts and fool fish. But these nymphing concepts are about putting a reason behind everything we do. Why do we make the changes? How do we adapt to meet the preferences of trout for the moment? This is the other side of the coin. And once you put all of this together, you hav...
Jan 14, 2024•52 min•Season 10Ep. 1
For this final episode of Season Ten and of 2023, we wanted to have some fun. In this episode we walk through a bunch of Troutbitten . . . terms, words, sayings, phrases . . . and talk about what all of this means. Let’s call it a Troutbitten glossary. If you’re lucky enough to have your own group of long-time fishing friends, then I’m sure you have your own phrases too — your own idioms and ways of talking about things. It’s all a lot of fun. Long-time listeners understand what it means when Au...
Dec 24, 2023•1 hr 21 min•Season 9Ep. 10
We’re here to talk about bad habits — things that aren’t personal style but just bad form. These are bad habits that come with a consequence. These are, quite simply, mistakes. And in every case, there’s a much better way to do things. We meet anglers from all over the country and the world, we often see these bad habits from good anglers. And inevitably, these are some of the key things that hold people back from going further — from catching more trout. These are deal breakers -- bad habits th...
Dec 17, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 9Ep. 9
This one is about taking photos and videos on the water, about camera gear, about keeping that gear safe but available, and even a few tips on taking a good fish selfie. Photography is something that we see most anglers get into, at least a little bit. I’ve often described the fish selfie as the grand compromise of catch and release fishing. We don’t kill the trout and take it home to show it off to friends anymore. But we do want to share some of the best trout and our most memorable situations...
Dec 10, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Season 9Ep. 8
Some favorite rivers meander and roll through stunning scenery and enchanting tracts of wilderness. And most trout fishermen quickly realize that the pursuit of wild trout takes them into some of the most beautiful valleys on earth. But some other favorite rivers run through towns or behind old factories. Maybe they’re paralleled by a highway or narrowly channeled by railroad tracks on either side. These places can be just as special, just as meaningful and treasured, for what they hold — for wh...
Dec 03, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 9Ep. 7
This episode is a conversation about tight line leader styles. We share what we like best, what works for each of us and what does not. This is Part Two for the podcast that we two weeks ago, titled, “Tight Line, High Stick, Euro Nymph, Mono Rig -- What's the Difference and How Did We Get Here?” While that first episode laid out a history of tight line tactics, this conversation is focused on how we use these leaders. How do we fish the different leader builds for tight lining? What are the adva...
Nov 27, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Season 9Ep. 6
Here we are in the middle of season nine, and we’re doing something a little different. This is like an intermission between sets. My wife, Becky, is here, and we’ll catch up on a few Troutbitten things, like updates to the Recommended Gear page and the upcoming fall leader sale. I also have a listener email to share that really gets to the heart of what we all love about being out there on the water. And then, I read one of my favorite Troutbitten stories from the archives. It’s titled, Coffee ...
Nov 19, 2023•35 min
Over the years, nymphing has grown up a bit. There's more information, more styles and more a cceptance of those styles than ever before. While nymphing was once seen as that thing you did when trout wouldn’t eat dry flies or wets, more anglers than ever choose nymphing first — as their go-to method for catching trout in all seasons. Because nymphing provides a unique complexity unlike anything else in fly fishing. And anglers who are dedicated to the craft take particular joy in seeing their re...
Nov 12, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Season 9Ep. 5
Sometimes, an angler's love for gear becomes more important than the fishing itself, until the goal becomes a bigger collection of fishing gear instead of a collection of good fishing experiences. We’ve all seen this out there. And sometimes we have to actively fight that urge to want the next thing or believe that our deficiencies on the river can be solved with more gear. The truth is, too much stuff gets in the way. Simplifying our approach, our fly selection and gear selection, usually wins....
Nov 05, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 9Ep. 4
How do we handle tough days? How can we turn it around and start catching fish? When the going gets tough, how do we fix it? What are the strategies? So, most things don’t turn out the way you had them planned. That’s life. But as you’re driving the dirt road toward your favorite trout water, thoughts and plans unfold in your mind. And while preparing for a destination trip, you expect success. Once you’re finally traveling halfway across the country to that river you’ve wanted to fish for decad...
Oct 30, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 9Ep. 3
This conversation is about spawning trout. Specifically, we tackle the ethics of fishing during the spawn, whether it’s right or wrong to fish for trout that are actively in the process of making the next generation of trout. Moreover, where do these ideas of what’s ethical or not come from, and why are the expectations confusing for a lot of anglers? Is it okay to be on the water while trout are spawning, or should we simply stay away during the spawning season and let trout do their thing? We ...
Oct 23, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Season 9Ep. 2
Everything changes. That’s the only constant. And in the fly fishing world, the tactics, the gear and how we share all of this information changes, even though what the trout eat and how they eat it pretty much stays the same. That time frame, that snapshot, from where you entered the fly fishing world, shapes what you do on the water. And it’s amazing what just twenty calendar years does to that snapshot. Because a lot of your understanding about what is common, accepted or frowned upon is shap...
Oct 15, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 9Ep. 1
In this six-part series we’ve covered locations, water types, weather, water and light conditions. We’ve talked about the gear, about flashlights and headlamps and glow in the dark stuff. We’ve considered what a good night plan looks like, having a strategy and then adapting. Tactically, we’ve talked about drifting vs swinging flies, about three levels of the water column, about where to expect trout might feed the most after dark, and we’ve walked through top water patterns, emergers and stream...
Sep 24, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Season 8Ep. 6
This is the episode you’ve all been waiting for. Tonight, we talk about fishing the top water. And yes, that means mouse patterns — sometimes. We also dig into a fly style that we feel is often more effective, the mouse emerger concept at night. And we talk about fishing streamers after dark. We cover the effectiveness of many different top water and streamer styles. And we discuss how the emerger concept combines the best of both fly platforms. We get into our favorite patterns and how we fish ...
Sep 17, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 8Ep. 5
All fishing trips benefit from a good plan, and most of us couldn’t stop planning, hoping and dreaming about an upcoming trip if we wanted to. Our night fishing plans are a good beginning. Aimed toward solving the mysteries after dark, these plans are formed around expectations and based on the conditions. Where are the trout, and how are they feeding? Building flexibility into our plans helps solve these questions. It’s our willingness to adapt, to walk around the bend, to work upstream instead...
Sep 09, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 8Ep. 4
We night fish with many different fly types: surface patterns, mouse emerges, streamers, wet flies, nymphs and Harvey Pushers. And all of these flies can be presented in two very different ways — drifting and swinging. There’s a lot of variety within these two categories. There are many ways to do both. And every fly type may seem to have its best or most effective presentation, drifting or swinging, but when that’s not working, the first and easiest thing to do, before changing the fly type, is...
Sep 03, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 8Ep. 3
In this second part of the Night Fishing for Trout Skills Series on Troutbitten, we consider light. First the naturals, like moonlight and starlight, then we discuss city lights and other artificials, like our own flashlights and headlamps. Lastly, we’ll discuss the use of glow-in-the-dark stuff, like fly lines, indicators and more. I'm joined by my night fishing friends, Austin Dando, Trevor Smith and Josh Darling. Night fishing always comes down to what we can see and what we can’t. Of course ...
Aug 27, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Season 8Ep. 2
This season is a skills series about fishing for trout after the sun goes down. And for the next six episodes, we’ll break down the night game into an outline that roughly follows the topics of a series that I published on Troutbitten, titled, Night Fishing for Trout . My night fishing friends are joining me for this episode -- Josh, Trevor and Austin. These are the only night fishing companions I’ve ever had. Because the truth is, most anglers simply will not fish in the dark very often. But th...
Aug 20, 2023•57 min•Season 8Ep. 1
We’re in between podcast season, and it's time for an update about what’s going on with Troutbitten. My wife, Becky, joins me to talk about the past, the present and the near future. The summer Troutbitten Shop leader sale launches on Monday morning, July 31st. All Troutbitten leaders will be back in stock: Harvey, Standard, Thin and Micro Thin Mono Rigs, Full Kits and Standard Sighters. Also in the shop are new hats and tee shirts in collaboration with New Trail Brewing Company. My Guide Schedu...
Jul 29, 2023•50 min
Every Troutbitten regular knows about Sloop. We’ve referred to our friend on nearly every podcast, especially in the last few seasons, as it’s become a running contest to see how we can sneak in a Sloop John B reference. So we’re excited to have John here. Because what we all find so rewarding about this life on the water are the friendships. We form deep bonds with people because they are . . . fishermen. Because they too are captivated by the trout, by the places trout take us and by the refin...
Jul 02, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 7Ep. 12
We're back for the annual airing of grievances, here to call out what's wrong in the fly fishing industry. Some of our grievances are lighthearted silliness that doesn't really matter, but it’s fun to roast or to call out. But there’s another kind of grievance too. Because a lot of the stuff going on in the fly fishing industry isn’t really good for anyone — or maybe it’s only good for a few. Because the industry — and by that I mean you, me, the fly fishing companies, and all the media around i...
Jun 25, 2023•1 hr 52 min•Season 7Ep. 11
This episode is about big trout -- what they mean to us, why we chase them, and how catching a top tier wild trout often leaves a bookmark in the story of our fishing lives. We love big trout because they give us the shakes. Because they elude us. Because they are rare. And because fooling a top tier trout serves as an accomplishment that we know comes from persistence and from knowledge gained over seasons of fishing. Time. That’s what it always comes down to. Because big trout don’t show up ev...
Jun 18, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 7Ep. 10
“That’s Not Fly Fishing.” How many times have you heard this at the bar or seen someone write it on social media? When the way you are fishing isn’t up to someone’s standards, when it doesn’t align with their own preferences, it seems that this frequent argument comes out easily — That’s not fly fishing! Of course, there is no single definition for what fly fishing is. The fly rod is a tool. Flies are the bait. And how anglers choose to use them is where personal creativity comes in. It’s that i...
Jun 11, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 7Ep. 9
This episode is a brief pause in season seven of the podcast to share something that I published to Troutbitten in the early years. The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of emotion and activity. The days were filled with energy and adrenaline, as my youngest son's Little League baseball team won the league championship. They battled through two weeks of playoffs and took the title in the last series, where every game was decided in the final inning. I've coached Little League for nine years, ...
Jun 04, 2023•12 min
What’s the best way to carry your gear? Should you use a vest, a chest pack, hip pack, sling pack or something else? How you choose to carry gear is a personal and situational choice. It has everything to do with what you need to carry, and how far you like to walk. Do you need to carry extra layers and a raincoat, and how many tactics do you want to be ready for? Streamers, nymphs, dry flies and wets . . . or just dries? We have more choices than ever before, but it pays to think about efficien...
May 28, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Season 7Ep. 8
The leader might be the most important piece of gear that we have -- more consequential than the rod, the fly line, or even the fly itself. And of course, at the tail end of the leader is the tippet. All anglers must make decisions about tippet every day. What size and strength? What type of tippet? And how long should the tippet section be? Because, what might seem like a small decision, can have a big impact on the presentation of the fly, leading to failure or success. Some of these decisions...
May 21, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Season 7Ep. 7
This podcast is about small stream fishing — specifically, what we love about the places, the fish, the tactics and the experience of fishing smaller trout waters. These are trout streams that are no wider than the dirt road that you drove in on. And for every blue ribbon trout river, for every destination water that is raved about in the guidebooks and makes every angler’s bucket list, there are numerous tributaries to these main rivers that are mostly overlooked. We see this everywhere we go —...
May 14, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 7Ep. 6
This episode is about wading a river. Good wading. Better wading. Confident wading. Because, for a river angler, nothing is more important. Good wading is not just walking from place to place, it's an almost constant, fluid motion, and fly fishing requires great footwork along the way. I meet a lot of anglers who approach a river all wrong. They wade into a spot, set up, and then cast to every piece of water they can reach (at all angles) before picking up and wading again to repeat the process....
May 07, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Season 7Ep. 5
