Troutbitten

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Troutbitten

Domenick Swentosky

168 episodes

1 day ago

In this fourth episode of the Blue Liner's Bible, we talk about nymphing on small waters. We discuss when and where we might turn to nymphs, and then we break down the adaptations for different styles. We cover dry dropper, mostly as a nymphing tactic. Then we discuss indicator nymphing and tight line nymphing with a Mono Rig. My friend, Austin Dando, joins me for an important look at the variety of nymphing tactics we use on small waters. Resources READ: Troutbitten | Favorite Small Stream L...

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In this fourth episode of the Blue Liner's Bible, we talk about nymphing on small waters. We discuss when and where we might turn to nymphs, and then we break down the adaptations for different styles. We cover dry dropper, mostly as a nymphing tactic. Then we discuss indicator nymphing and tight line nymphing with a Mono Rig. My friend, Austin Dando, joins me for an important look at the variety of nymphing tactics we use on small waters. Resources READ: Troutbitten | Favorite Small Stream L...

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Episodes (20/168)

Troutbitten

Is Gen X the Greatest Fly Fishing Generation?

We talk a lot about our frame of reference in fly fishing. Wherever you get into the game, a lot of your baseline is set by whatever is popular or widely accepted at that moment in time. My friend, Matt Mickey, recently argued that Gen X anglers are uniquely positioned, that this generation has experienced development and had a wide variety of influences that will never be duplicated. We’ve learned through every form of media. We grew up in a time where good information was sparse, and most o...

2 days ago

59 minutes

Troutbitten

Caught, Lost and Missed Trout -- Keeping Track

So . . . how was it? How many did you catch? This is always the question for every fisherman, right? Whether I’m talking to my friends about a fishing trip from last week, or as I walked in the door this evening, my wife asked the same question — how many fish did you catch? It’s a fair question. Because that’s the goal out there (usually). We go fishing to catch fish. But the answers we give can also reveal a different story. “Well, I caught eight this morning, but I missed another handful u...

1 week ago

53 minutes

Troutbitten

When you fish long enough, things break. That’s the nature of life, really . . . things fall apart. But if you're resourceful, you put them back together. Sometimes it’s out of necessity. Honestly, a couple decades ago, I simply couldn’t afford to go through gear as fast as it was wearing down, so I learned to patch waders, fix a fly rod, mend a fly line, resole my boots, sew tears in my fishing vest and fix my landing net. Likewise, we’ve all run into those moments on a fishing trip wh...

2 weeks ago

1 hour 7 minutes

Troutbitten

Our Most Important Breakthroughs

This episode is all about breakthroughs. For each of us, as a personal account, what have been the biggest changes, or the biggest steps forward, in our fishing? I call these breakthroughs because they're the landmarks or discoveries or changes, along the way of learning, where we can look back and say, “Now that, really made a big difference.” We talk a lot about a life on the water. And really, each of us here at Troutbitten has fished for most of our lives. And the truth is, it’s not reall...

3 weeks ago

1 hour 6 minutes

Troutbitten

Season Fifteen Intermission -- Catching Up With Leader Sales, Books, Beers, Videos and Plans

For our Season 15 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 (May 23rd). We talk about the New Trail Troutbitten beer, the upcoming book on Fly Fishing the Mono Rig and a bunch of videos on the Troutbitten YouTube channel. Becky also covers a couple favorite fishing terms near the end. :-) Resources VIDEO: Troutbitten | Fish and Film - Tight Line Tracking, Nymphs in ...

3 weeks ago

36 minutes

Troutbitten

Why Are Some Trout So Selective?

The trout is prized as a gamefish because it’s picky. It’s selective. Often, it requires a refined presentation to fool a wild trout. And in large part, that’s the draw toward fishing for them. In every region, in every stream, trout habits can differ from others in neighboring watersheds. And across the fishing landscape, we find places and even moments when trout are more picky — more choosy — about what, where and how they want to eat their food. We’ve all seen fishing change in just a few...

1 month ago

1 hour 8 minutes

Troutbitten

Riverside -- A Fisherman's Thoughts On Spot Burning

There are two ways to tell the experience of an angler: how he holds a fish and how he keeps his secrets. The latter is probably more important. A seasoned angler intuitively understands the vulnerability of a river. Spot burning is a real thing with real consequences. Good anglers understand this concept. Good people understand this concept. Every piece of river is someone else’s favorite place. So we respect the spots — for others, if not for ourselves. Here's the article: READ: Troutbitten...

1 month ago

23 minutes

Troutbitten

Fishing Big Rivers-- Thoughts, Tips and Strategies

Let’s talk about fishing big rivers. For the most part, all of us here at Troutbitten are river anglers, meaning not much stillwater. Furthermore we’re mostly wade anglers. We spend most of our time wading rather than floating, because we enjoy it, and because in a lot of cases, wading gives us the best chance for success. But over the years I’ve noticed some misunderstandings about where and how we fish. I hear from a lot of reader, listeners and watchers of Troutbitten stuff. And one thing ...

1 month ago

1 hour 2 minutes

Troutbitten

Learn to Read the River Like a Trout

We spend a lot of time thinking about tactics and working on techniques. We devote our energies toward finding fly patterns, tying up our confidence flies and testing new flies. We research new waters and explore unfinished sections in familiar waters. We spend a lot of time doing fishy things. This is a life on the water. The guys and I have been talking a lot about reading water. It’s one of the biggest deficiencies we see while guiding — just choosing the right piece of a river for your ne...

1 month ago

1 hour 21 minutes

Troutbitten

Know the River or Know Your Tactics? What Puts More Trout In the Net?

Here's a topic that starts with an interesting question: What puts more trout in the net? Is it knowing your water or knowing your tactics? Of course, the easy answer is . . . both. Refine your skills and learn your rivers. Then put all of that together, and you have a great formula, not only for catching trout but for having a lot of fun. The truth is, as frequent anglers we’re always involved in improving. It goes way beyond filling the fly box with new patterns. We know our deficienc...

1 month ago

1 hour 12 minutes

Troutbitten

Riverside -- Twelve Small Stream Fly Casting Tips

Here are twelve tips for delivering a fly into waters that are heavily canopied, with greedy branches, ready to grab your fly and make life difficult. The best small stream fishing happens in these places. We call it brush fishing. Learning to cast a fly on small streams forces an angler into proper form. There is no forgiveness, and every error comes with consequences. But the reward is there. Small streams demand real accuracy. We learn to punch the fly under limbs and around tree stumps. A...

1 month ago

29 minutes

Troutbitten

Strategies For Stocked Trout

Across the country, there are rivers, creeks and streams stocked by the state, often referred to as put and take (they put trout in, you take them out). And especially early in the season, opportunities for stocked trout can be a solid choice. Other places stock fish under catch and release regs or delayed harvest. Also, some rivers, for various reasons, cannot support wild trout populations and they are entirely reliant on hatchery trout. In other places, it’s a mix of wild and stocked...

1 month ago

1 hour 13 minutes

Troutbitten

Riverside: The Best Fly Rods for the Mono Rig, Tight Line and Euro Nymphing

What's your favorite fly rod? This most frequently asked question now has its answer in the Troutbitten Riverside Series. Riverside is a place for sharing and presenting stories and articles from the Troutbitten website. And one of the most popular articles at Troutbitten has been about the qualities to look for in a rod well suited for the Mono Rig. This past winter, I wrote the manuscript for my upcoming book, Fly Fishing the Mono Rig. And I adapted the fly rod article into a full chapter f...

2 months ago

42 minutes

Troutbitten

Streamer Presentations #10 -- Strategies, Tips and Scenarios

This season has been all about options for moving the streamer. Our focus has been on the animations available to attract and then sell the trout on the streamer presentation. In this season finale, we talk about river scenarios and share some tips and strategies that help tie all of the previous episodes together. We discuss the following: How different fly designs suggest fishing them different waysShould all streamers have flash?How to adapt to big riversDiscipline in approach and followin...

2 months ago

1 hour

Troutbitten

Streamer Presentations #9 -- The Tight Line Dance

The tight line dance is another collection of movements to the streamer loosely grouped together into a system or framework for covering many water types and gaining reactions from the trout. It's all about taking the advantages of a tight line, Mono Rig system to the streamer game and using contact to control every aspect of the streamer's course through the river. We use a visible streamer for the tight line dance. We watch the streamer dip and swoon around rocks, tree parts and the river b...

2 months ago

49 minutes

Troutbitten

Streamer Presentations #8 -- The Crossover Technique

With episode seven of this Troutbitten Skills Series, we’ve finally come to the point where we’ve covered all the different ways to move a streamer and give it some animation. Now it’s time to put all of that together. This whole series has been about what motions might sell the presentation. Because how we move the streamer fools the next trout. And there’s such a wealth of options that it can be very helpful to break things down into individual parts. So we talked about jerk strips, glides,...

3 months ago

1 hour 8 minutes

Troutbitten

Streamer Presentations #7 -- Speed Leads and Lane Changes

Speed leads happen mostly in one lane, and they go faster than their parent current. Lane changes are exactly what they sound like — the fly is traveling in one lane, and then we deliberately bring the fly over to a nearby lane and travel down that one. The speed lead is a term coined by our friend, Josh Stewart. Way back in 2017, I published a few articles about low-riding streamer presentations, with streamers tied on lead ball jigs. I’d gotten the idea from Rich Strolis, and it was a bit o...

3 months ago

34 minutes

Troutbitten

Streamer Presentations #6 -- Jigging Styles (Slack, Contact and Pendulum Jigging)

We've covered many animations in these series. We’ve talked about the streamer head position and its direction, about cross current movement vs holding one lane. We've covered jerk strips, glides, slides, fast, slow, quick or smooth, we talked about drop rates and a lot more. And now, we're here to talk about one of the most basic movements performed on any fly, lure or bait — jigging. Moving the fly up and then letting it drop — it’s such a simple motion that it might seem silly to spend muc...

3 months ago

50 minutes

Troutbitten

Streamer Presentations #5 - Give Swings a Chance

This steamer presentation is what streamer anglers probably do most — swinging the flies. From what I see on the water, what I read in articles and watch in videos, I think it’s fair to say, swinging is a pretty popular look. But it’s also fair to say that swinging is what we do the least. I think part of that is regional. Swinging streamers is a good tactic. It’s not our preferred method, but that might not matter to you and to the trout in your waters. That’s kind of the point to this whole...

3 months ago

47 minutes

Troutbitten

Streamer Presentations #4 - Glides and Slides

For us, streamer fishing is best when we actively and intentionally move the fly. But with glides and slides, our animations are often subtle, because sometimes these are the most natural or convincing looks. Rolling the bottom, gliding mid-current along a knee-deep riffle or slow-sliding off the bank — all of these maneuvers are just as enticing, and they catch just as many trout as flashy retrieves (sometimes). But we tend to forget them. Or rather, we might not have the discipline to stay ...

4 months ago

41 minutes