Troutbitten
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.
Episodes
215 episodes
Boat Fishing -- How Everything Changes When Floating a River
We're here to talk about floating down a river, about why we like boats, how floating is so much different than wading, how some opportunities are uniquely available and how others are shut off too.It’s the companionship and teamwork, a...
What's the Deal With Emergers?
Like anything else in fishing, you can take the emerger concept just about as far as you want. You get technical, or you can spin up a couple wet flies, float them in the film, and keep things simple.I’ve often argued that you don’t hav...
The Ethics of Guiding -- More Harm Than Good?
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 guid...
Fishing Through a Caddis Hatch
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 Stages of an Angler
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 ...
Feed Drop -- Troutbitten On The Untangled Podcast
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...
Catching Up -- Patagonia, Leader Sales, Live Streams, Beer, Hosted Trips and More
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 seas...
Critical Nymphing Concepts #7 -- Animating the Nymph
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...
Critical Nymphing Concepts #6 -- Line on the Water
This episode is about tension and slack. It's about how we manage fly lines and leaders on the water while nymphing.Remember, each of these episodes — all of these concepts — apply to all styles of nymphing. So we might choose to lay li...
Critical Nymphing Concepts #5 -- Weight: The Fundamental Factor
This discussion is all about weight. It’s the fundamental factor in nymphing. Because as soon as you choose to leave the surface, once you clip off the dry fly and fish anything else . . . weight is necessary.Even wet flies have some we...
Three Ways to Dead Drift -- Critical Nymphing Concepts #4
This episode features what might be the most important concept of nymph fishing. There are three different ways to present a dead drifted nymph to the trout -- three ways to imitate what trout commonly see from the naturals. While trout eat dry...
Suspender Advantages -- Critical Nymphing Concepts #3
In the third part of this critical nymphing concepts series, we consider the advantages and disadvantages of fishing with a suspender. We cover the followingIndicator styles and why the type mattersNot all in...
More Influence or Less? -- Critical Nymphing Concepts #2
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...
Critical Nymphing Concepts #1 -- The Three Questions
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....
A Troutbitten Glossary
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 Troutbi...
Bad Habits That Hurt
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.W...
Fishing With a Camera
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 leas...
Our Favorite Rivers
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 ...
What Works When and Why? -- Mono Rigs and Euro Nymphing Styles
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,
Coffee and Secrets (a story), and Catching Up
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
Tight Line, High Stick, Euro Nymph, Mono Rig -- What's the Difference and How Did We Get Here?
Over the years, nymphing has grown up a bit. There's more information, more styles and more acceptance 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...
The Stuff You Don't Need
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...
Turning Around the Toughest Days — How to Save a Slow Fishing Trip
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 ...
Trout Fishing and the Spawn
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, w...
How Has Fly Fishing Changed?
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 ...