Fishy Fridays by Confident Angler: One fly fishing tip, one fly to try, and one inspirational post to get you fired up to fish this weekend. π£
Hey Reader,
Real talk. I haven't been fishing in a few weeks. My consulting business (AI and marketing stuff) has been picking up a lot lately. Great problem to have, but it means less time on the water.
I'm still figuring out how Confident Angler fits into the bigger picture long term. Sometimes, I'm not sure these posts are actually helping anyone. But then I get a reply from one of you, and it reminds me why I keep going.
So thank you for reading. And for responding when you do.
Anyway, the good news is I'm planning to get out on the water today or sometime next week. And when I do, there's one thing I'll be paying close attention to...
When in Doubt, Go Heavierβ Here's a mistake I made for a long time. I'd tie on a single fly pattern. You know, the one the local fly shop said was catching all the fish. I'd toss it out and wait.
And wait.
And keep waiting.
Drift after drift with no grabs. Then I'd wonder why nothing was happening. The drift looked fine. The fly was... THE FLY. But still nothing.
The problem? It wasn't the fly pattern. It was depth. My flies weren't even close to where the fish were holding.
This is especially true in winter when trout hug the bottom. They're cold. They don't have a lot of energy. They're not going to swim very far to chase your nymph. They want food delivered right to their face.
So here's the simple rule I use now. When I'm unsure if I'm deep enough, I go heavier before I change anything else.
"Am I deep enough?" is almost always the first question on my mind when I haven't caught anything in the last 20 minutes.
When I'm ready to take action, the first thing I do is switch to a bigger, heavier fly. If I'm still not ticking bottom within a few seconds after casting, I add split shot. And I keep adding until I know I'm down there.
Start heavier than you think you need. If you're constantly bumping rocks, go a little lighter. But if you're drifting clean with zero grabs? That's your sign to add weight, not change flies.
Get down to the fish first. Then worry about the pattern.
Most people think of stoneflies as a big summer bug. And they are! But that's the adult flying stage. The smaller nymph stage lives in river systems for over a year. And trout eat them all winter long.
The Winter Stone Nymph is simple. Dark body, a little weight, and enough movement to look alive. These bugs crawl along the bottom, so that's exactly where you need to fish them.
Target deeper runs and riffles. Add weight until you're ticking bottom. That's where the fish are.
Grant from Firefly Fishing has been chasing steelhead on the swing for years. No grabs. No luck. In this video, it finally happens. He lands his first, his buddy gets hammered on a skated fly, and then he loses a bigger fish that tail-walks and breaks him off.
P.S. If thereβs one skill that keeps tripping you up β rigging, fly choice, reading water, whatever it is β book a Fix One Thing Session. In 60 minutes, weβll break it down and build a simple system you can use on your very next trip.
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