The Troutbitten Podcast: Learning a River and Discovering Its Secrets - S3, Ep10
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- Опубликовано: 3 июл 2024
- (From May 29, 2022) You can’t really learn a river until you’ve learned to fish. You need some confidence in your skills to cover a section of new water, to fish it well and then walk away with some opinions about what that river holds rather than asking questions about your techniques and decisions.
Learning a river comes by dedicating your time. You must give a part of your life to a river to learn it from top to bottom. And yes, it takes seasons on the water just to crack the surface. (And it probably takes a decade or more to crack the code.)
But for many of us, for those who live a fly fishing life, who dedicate our free time to pursuing trout and learning the game, the questions that a watershed asks are seductive. Why do you find fewer large trout in the lower island section in the fall? What river conditions are required for trout to move to the shallows and comfortably feed after dark? When should you expect the Sulfur hatch, and are there two sizes or just one?
These questions have answers. And the more we fish one waterway, the more details we discover, the more data we enter into a catalog of knowledge about a favorite trout stream.
Rivers are an ever-changing, complex ecosystem of life, water and land. They are influenced by weather, surrounding community development and sometimes the anglers themselves. Nothing is static. Nothing is truly predictable. But there’s also no denying the habit of trout. And once you spend time wading with these fish, observing their habits and watching how the changes affect their behaviors, then time itself finally stacks in your favor. The observant angler becomes part of that ecosystem. And we begin to predict the paths of trout by instinct.
Achieving that level of knowledge is a rare reward. But it is attainable. And the journey toward that knowledge is a respectable pursuit.
I’m joined again by the Troutbitten crew, Trevor Smith, Matt Grobe, Bill Dell, and Austin Dando. I can tell you that each of these fishermen know their local waters exhaustively, from to deep to shallow, from bank to bank, winter, spring, summer and fall. They know the rhythms of their waters.
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Thank you for your support.
Fish hard, friends.
Dom
We Cover the Following
Listener question about dry flies on the Mono Rig
Research via maps, books, etc.
Trout population and species
Learning the flows
Exploring from the mouth to the headwaters
Season changes and migratory habits
. . . and more 
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Another great podcast Dom and crew.thanks as always
Thanks, Mike.
These episodes are new. As in new to me. Thoroughly enjoying them. One topic I would love to hear you tackle (fly tackle not spin lol) would be how conservation and appreciation ethics factor into our fly fishing experience. If that's not important to an angler, then I want to either help them appreciate the importance at best, nothing to do with them at worst.
Cheers
Cheers from Dallas. Can’t wait for the next time I can explore PA waters and drink a few more Troutbittens. That was definitely worth the traveling
Awesome. Thanks for your support.
I really appreciated all of the information contained in this podcast. But, I also really appreciate the listener question. It is one I've had in the past, but one that is resurfacing for me. I'm in the market for a new rod (that will be my first real euro nymphing rod). I have read the troutbitten articles on gear and am trying to make a decision. I messaged a few companies about casting dries on their mid-range rods and was basically told by all of them that the rods weren't designed for casting without the weight of a beaded nymph or fly line. I could, of course, explain to them that the weight of the 20lb maxima can give fly line-like performance. But, I also understand their point; right tool for the job. So, while a dry fly could be cast on the mono rig, I was always curious how often the crew here at troutbitten did it.
I know this comment is going long, but I did have one question for the troutbitten crew. Someone mentioned that if they have to cast beyond two rod lengths, they switch their dry fly off of the mono rig and onto a more standard fly line setup. Someone else mentioned they fish dry fly on mono up to 20-25ft, sometimes 30 but that is pushing it. When we say "fishing two rod lengths", I assume that is 30ft (not 20ft) from where I stand? Similarly, when we say we fish dries up to 20-25ft on mono, is this 20-25ft from my wading boots or from the tip of my rod?
I've asked the more general fly fishing community about this and gotten a lot of different answers. I always assume a 25ft cast is from the rod tip. But others pointed out that if two people cast to the same spot and one person has a shorter rod, that doesn't mean that they casted further. I can see both sides. So, I feel getting an answer from the troutbitten crew will help me better understand how you guys define this. But, more importantly, it will help me set my own expectations and goals for dry fly fishing on the mono rig.
Thanks for everything you guys do!!
Hi there. Good stuff. Thanks for your questions. I have full articles that will answer these well. So I'll be brief here and then give you the links:
How far away:
From your feet. That's what is consistent when communicating.
READ: Troutbitten | How Do You Measure Your Distance
troutbitten.com/2024/01/07/qa-how-do-you-measure-your-fishing-distance/
How Often do we throw dry flies on the Mono Rig? Once in a while, but it's not nearly as useful as a fly line.
READ: Troutbitten | Dry Flies on the Mono Rig
troutbitten.com/2019/09/25/dry-flies-on-the-mono-rig/
What rod? And what can specialized rods do? This is probably my most commonly received question. There's a lot to this answer, because everyone's goals will be different. For the way we fish, for all the things I love to do on the water and enjoy using the fly rod, I will not limit myself by choosing a specialized rod. You're worried that a ten foot four weight won't cast Mono Rigs? It does, and it does it better than most specialized rods because of the way we actually cast things around rather than lob them. I don't want open loops. I want tight loops. I don't like water hauling. I like casting. I'd say what you should be worried about is if an 11 foot 2 weight is any good at casting streamers, indicators, heavier weighted flies, drop shot or even much fun to throw dry flies with. Again, those are my own considerations. Anyone telling you that a 1004 can't do the job on a Mono Rig, (even a micro mono rig) probably hasn't tried it, doesn't understand it, or they just want to sell you something. The 1004 has power. I will choose that every time.
Articles for digging into more of those thoughts:
The Best Fly Rods for the Mono Rig and Euro Nymphing
troutbitten.com/2021/09/22/the-best-fly-rods-for-the-mono-rig-and-euro-nymphing-my-favorite-rods/
Design and Function of the Troutbitten Standard Mono Rig
troutbitten.com/2021/03/14/design-and-function-of-the-troutbitten-standard-mono-rig/
READ: Troutbitten | Use a General and Versatile Fly Rod
troutbitten.com/2017/10/15/fifty-fly-fishing-tips-12-use-a-versatile-and-general-fly-rod/
Cheers.
Have fun out there.
What an incredibly thoughtful response. I truly appreciate you taking time out of your day to help!
@@bbudHappy to help.