Troutbitten Domenick Swentosky

My friends join me for a tough discussion. What are the benefits of guiding? What are the good things? How does it help anglers? Does it actually help people and make our sport or this fishing scene better, or does it just put money in the guide’s pocket and put more pressure on the trout?

Also, what kinds of guided trips are there? Different types of guided trips are offered across the country. Some cater to the first timer, introducing new anglers to the fly rod. Other trips feature education first, with a strong focus on refining the tactics for more experienced anglers. Many guides sell the river itself. Others sell trips by promising big trout. Some guide for clubs with stocked and fed fish, sometimes catering to lodges with clients that are not anglers, but vacationing guests where fly fishing is just another highlighted activity.

When does guiding trout water do more harm that good? There are no right or wrong answer to all of this, but we’re here to work through a few things — to think about all of it and to have the conversation that others might avoid.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Respect the Spots! A fisherman's perspective on friendship and spot burning
READ: Troutbitten | Fish Hard
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Angler Pressure TWO -- What It Does to the Fishing


Visit

Troutbitten Website

Troutbitten Instagram

Troutbitten YouTube

Troutbitten Facebook
Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:SkwalaandOrvis

Two years ago we did a full episode on Hatches. That discussion was a broad, overarching look at how the bugs — the insects that trout eat — dictate many of the habits of trout. We argued that knowing the hatches, following the emergence and being ready for these events is not only a lot of fun, it drastically improves your success on the water. Trout don’t miss the hatches, and neither should we.

At the same time, none of us here think the pattern matters all that much — usually. While we all admit that a color change or certainly the fly size can make a big difference, we all agree that what a trout eats most frequently is a great presentation.

This episode is about those presentations.

We consider the full life cycle of a caddis: the pre-hatch, the emergence, the egg laying phase and death. And at each of those stages, we ask what the bugs are doing, how the trout respond and how we can imitate the bugs to fool a trout.

Visit

Troutbitten Website

Troutbitten Instagram

Troutbitten YouTube

Troutbitten Facebook
Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:SkwalaandOrvis

How many times have we heard the supposed stages of an angler? First you want to catch a fish, then you want to catch a bunch of fish, then you want to catch a big fish, then you want to catch the toughest fish, and then you just want to catch a fish again.

This is a clever way to look at a life on the water. But is it really true? This is our topic.

We also expand on some other stages that anglers go through, and we think about the beginning stage — why it’s so hard at first, how anglers get held back, and how, sadly, the majority of anglers probably never get a whole lot further than those early stages.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Life on the Water
READ: Troutbitten | Two Sides to Every Fishermen
READ: Troutbitten | The Dirty Fisherman
READ: Troutbitten | How to Stay in the Fly Fishing Game for a Lifetime


Visit

Troutbitten Website

Troutbitten Instagram

Troutbitten YouTube

Troutbitten Facebook
Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:SkwalaandOrvis

I was happy to be a guest on the Untangled Podcast with Spencer Durrant. We talked mostly about Nymphing tactics for beginners. We also talked a little about a fishing life and the fly fishing industry.
You can listen to that full episode  here in the Troubitten Podcast feed

Follow the Untangled Podcast hosted by the Venturing Fly Company YouTube channel.

https://youtu.be/AWoagPJ0JPc?si=EjXoavzV8pGg9NEI

Visit

Troutbitten Website

Troutbitten Instagram

Troutbitten YouTube

Troutbitten Facebook
Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:SkwalaandOrvis

In this interim episode, Becky and I look back on what has happened in 2024 so far, and we set the table for what’s to come. We talk about Patagonia, videos, articles, podcasts, livestream podcasts, one-on-one sessions, hosted trips, guide season, the next Troutbitten Leader Sale and a Troutbitten beer.

Thank you for being part of this Troutbitten community.

Resources
READ: Troutbitten | One-On-One Virtual Skills Sessions
READ: Troutbitten | The First Troutbitten LIVESTREAM Podcast On YouTube

Visit

Troutbitten Website

Troutbitten Instagram

Troutbitten YouTube

Troutbitten Facebook


Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:SkwalaandOrvis

Here we are with our final installment, part seven of our series on critical nymphing concepts.

Almost all of our focus throughout this series has been on achieving dead drifts. We aim for natural looks that imitate what the real bugs do most. So we try to stay in one lane, we try to find the right speed and the right depth. Most of the articles on Troutbitten about nymphing also assume we’re aiming for dead drifts. It's the same with the videos. Why? Because dead drifts usually work best.

But in this episode, our topic is getting something other than a dead drift. How can we add animation to a nymph that seals the deal? Something that either grabs a trout’s attention and attracts it to the fly . . . or the chosen animation actually mimics something natural that the real bugs are doing at the moment.

We spend so much time refining presentations and trying to achieve perfectly natural dead drifts that moving the nymph a bit, animating the fly, is liberating. It’s fun.

But moving our nymph at random, moving it accidentally or relabeling drag as enticing motion doesn’t work so well. Stripping or swinging a nymph like a streamer doesn't work so well. More often, subtle motions add an extra spark to the presentation. These are mostly additions to a dead drift, and not a full abandonment of the dead drift principles we try so hard to achieve.

This is our topic for part seven, this season finale.

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Streamer Presentations -- The Crossover Technique
READ: Troutbitten | The First Troutbitten LIVESTREAM Podcast On YouTube
READ: Troutbitten | The Big Rig -- The Two Plus One -- Two Nymphs and a Streamer
READ: Troutbitten | Streamer Presentations -- The Super Pause
READ: Troutbitten | Natural vs Attractive Presentation


Visit

Troutbitten Website

Troutbitten Instagram

Troutbitten YouTube

Troutbitten Facebook


Thank You to Pre-Roll Ad Sponsors:SkwalaandOrvis