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
An Introduction to Night Fishing for Trout
I've been building the Night Fishing for Trout Series here on Troutbitten for many years. It's an ongoing series of chapters that cover some of what I’ve learned about trout after dark.But I’m careful with that word “learned.” Sure, I’v...
The Airing of Grievances
So, you know how you see something from far away and it looks really great? It’s almost perfect. But if you look a little closer, even from a long distance, you might start to find a few things that aren’t quite right. But it’s good . . . it’s ...
What's the Deal With Junk Flies?
What might commonly be referred to as a junk fly makes its way to the end of my line pretty often. And for certain times of the year, through the summer and through the winter, I lean on junk flies as my go-to staples.But my understandin...
Why Do We Miss Fish, and Why Do We Lose Fish on a Fly?
We all miss fish and lose fish on a fly. Why does it happen? Is it an accident? Is it avoidable? And how can we improve our hookup and landing ratio on the water?If you’re at the point where you’re worrying about why you are missing and ...
Learning a River and Discovering Its Secrets
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...
A Fly Fishing Life, and Doing the Hard Things
Living a fly fishing life, being Troutbitten, is something that you can’t shake off. Your mind always churns over something tactical, like a fresh spin on an old streamer retrieve. Or maybe you’re daydreaming about the upstream reaches ab...
Rude on the River, Front Ended and the Golden Rule
In the last podcast, episode 7 of season 3, we talked about finding your water and finding space. And we acknowledged that everyone wants this. Everyone. I don’t know any fisherman who sets out to fish beside a bunch of strangers for the day. B...
Find Your Water -- Find Space
Every angler wants to fish somewhere new — someplace untouched. We want novel experiences. Something about trout fishing, about catch and release and about throwing flies, attracts the explorer. Long term anglers are most often the adventurers....
Why It Always Comes Down to Fly Casting -- And What Matters Most
This episode is about fly casting — why it matters more than anything, and how we can improve our accuracy and control over the system with just a few key adjustments.All fly fishing styles require good casting skills. My friends a...
Find Feeding Fish - Exploring Water Types and More
This episode is about exploring the water types of a river to find hungry trout. And we’re thinking beyond just fast water, slow water, riffles, runs and pools. Sure, recognizing the basic features of the stream you’re fishing is a great starti...
How to Fight Bigger Trout
Something electric happens when we hook into the fish of the day, the fish of the season or maybe the fish of a lifetime. Our hearts beat faster. The adrenaline pumps because the stakes are raised. This is the fish we’ve been waiting for, and w...
Hatches and Strategies
One of the greatest attractions to fly fishing can also present one of the biggest barriers.It’s the bugs.The aquatic insects that make up the bulk of a trout’s food base are intriguing, but they’re also somewhat mysterious<...
The Inefficiencies That Waste Your Fishing Time
Casting, drifting, swinging and stripping -- everything else is downtime. As Paul said, “Brother, there are no flying fish in Montana” — or anywhere else, for that matter.Flies in the water — that’s where we want them. A trout at the end...
Secrets and Spot Burning
Season Three begins with a round-table discussion about fishermen's secrets and what happens when we give up the most sensitive of them -- spot burning.My full panel of fishing buddies is back for this third season: Austin Dando, Trevor ...
Feed Drop -- Troutbitten on the Wet Fly Swing Podcast
Hello, friends.Season two of the Troutbitten podcast is finished, and season three begins soon. So in this off week, I have something a little special for you.Recently, I was a guest on the Wet F...
Bonus Round Q&A with Full Panel -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #10
Season Two concludes with a round table discussion for answering the most common questions about tight line and euro nymphing skills. My full panel of friends, Austin, Bill, Trevor and Josh join me to get deep in the weeds of the tactics, to cl...
Putting It All Together -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #9
Here we are at the finish line. In this ninth installment of this Troutbitten Skills Series, my friend, Austin Dando, and I walk through some of the best tips for putting it all together. Because this set of skills, performed in order and flowi...
The Strike -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #8
The strike is the best part of fishing. It’s what we’re all out there waiting for, or rather, what we’re trying to make happen all day long. And the trout eats because we get so many things right. When the fish strikes, we strike back. Short, s...
Guiding the Flies -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #7
Part Seven of this Troutbitten Skills Series focuses on guiding the flies. Once the nymphs are cast and settled into the target seam, it's time to take them to the trout. Guiding the flies is a blend of two skills that I call leading and tracki...
Locating the Strike Zone -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #6
Part six of this Troutbitten Skills Series is about locating the strike zone. This zone of water -- this cushion near the bottom of the river -- is the default target and the baseline location for our flies.Most of what happens in a rive...
Finding Contact -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #5
Part five of this Troutbitten Skills Series is about finding contact. Because after the tuck cast, after we
Recovering Slack -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #4
Part four of this Troutbitten Skills Series focuses on recovering slack. To dead drift a nymph, we cast it upstream. And as the river flows downstream, it sends the fly back toward us, creating slack. Usually, we simply pick up that slack and m...
Stick the Landing -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #3
Part three of this Troutbitten Skills Series focuses on sticking the landing. Because after putting ourselves in great pos...
Turnover and Tuck Casting -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #2
Part two of this Troutbitten Skills Series focuses on the tuck cast. A good tuck is a turnover cast -- where the loops unfolds completely in the air. In fact...
Angle and Approach -- Tight Line and Euro Nymphing Skills, #1
Season two of the Troutbitten podcast comes in a new format. It's a mini-series of connected episodes that build out a set of specific tactics. The topic for this first skills series is the Nine Essential Skills for Tight Line and Euro Nymphing...