Fighting Big Fish #2 - Where to Fight Them Artwork

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Life on the water. Troutbitten is a deep dive into fly fishing for wild trout in wild places. Author and guide, Domenick Swentosky, shares stories, tips, tactics and conversations with friends about fly fishing through the woods and water. Explore more. Fish hard. And discover fly fishing at Troutbitten.com — an extensive resource with 1500+ articles about trout, friends, family and the river.

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Fighting Big Fish #2 - Where to Fight Them

August 02, 2026 • Domenick Swentosky • Season 20 • Episode 2

0:00 | 49:45

Fighting trout in a river, creek or stream is all about the currents. So for this episode of our seven part skills series on fighting big fish, we talk about fighting fish upstream, downstream or across. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each angle? And what about current depth? Should we aim to fight the fish in the lower, middle or top part of the water column? And finally, we talk about the fighting zones in a river, meaning, what types of water are a safe choice for fighting the biggest trout of your life?

We also go through a little more on the hooksets from last week, and we briefly discuss how much of this applies to the stillwater game and to other species.

Here's the Episode List for Season 20

1. The Hookset and What Comes First
2. Where to Fight Them (Water Column and More)
3. Fight Them Fast (You Pull or They Pull - Work With a Trout)
4. The Fighting Position
5. Side Pressure
6. The Last Ten Feet (The Finishing Moves)
7. Wrap Up (With Stories)

My good friends, Matt Grobe and Bill Dell join me for this season.

Resources

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