Tips for Catching Bigger Trout

   There came a point in my fishing where I could consistently catch fish.  My casting was pretty good, presentations were decent, and I was hooking up.  I enjoyed it and spent a lot of time on the water.  I learned a ton by slowing down and observing.  I started catching even more fish.  I started tying flies more often and started studying bugs out on the water.  My skills kept improving.  Now, instead of worrying about catching lots of fish, I wanted to catch a trophy fish.  So I started noticing when and where I caught the biggest fish, hoping that one day a trophy would come to hand. 

   That big trophy fish finally came. 

   It was a blistering cold day in February with snow flurries.  After catching a couple fish dead drifting a nymph, I knew it was time to change it up.  My fingers were numb, so I wasn't about to change tippet, so I tied an articulated sculpin pattern on to my 4x (I would definitely recommend heavier tippet for a big articulated streamer).  We were fishing a big, deep, slow moving pool.  I let the sculpin sit at the bottom and gave it 6 inch twitches.  Not long after, I felt the distinctive grab of a fish.  I set the hook, and held on.  The fish I was roped in to wasn't jumping around or running like crazy . . . he just bore down at the bottom of the pool and gave me violent head shakes.  My 5 wt. rod was bent in half.  Luckily, I kept my wits about me and fellow guide and trout bum Jace also helped coach me.  After a few minutes we got the guy to the net, which he filled entirely.  Staring up at me was a handsome male brown trout, taped at 23 inches and approx. 5 pounds.  My arm ached from the fight.

   Since then, I've been lucky enough to land many big fish over 20 inches (known as the "hero" mark).  I've observed and recorded my successes over the years with a special focus on the big fish landed and have compiled the following tips for landing bigger trout from these experiences.  This will enable you to step up your game and take it to the next level.

1.  Don't overlook unproductive looking places and skinny, shallow water
     I've spooked some big fish because I was looking upstream at the next awesome pool and went trekking through unproductive looking water, only to see a big shadow of a fish dart out from behind a rock and disappear.

2.  Throw big flies
     I've heard the debate.  Small flies will catch big fish too, I know this.  I understand.  I've personally caught big fish on small flies.  But hands down, ALL the BIGGEST fish I've ever seen landed have been on big streamers. These include a 23" tiger trout, three brown trout 21" or bigger from the same pool, a 24" cutthroat, and a 24" rainbow trout.  In my 16 years of fly fishing (5 years guiding) I've seem many more big fish caught on big streamers than small flies.

3.  Get off the beaten path
      Pressured fish are much more picky and very unforgiving of mistakes.  If you're not stealthy and/or don't make a good presentation, it's game over.  Finding less pressured water means more forgiving trout and increased chances for big fish that haven't seen every fly in the book.

4.   The biggest fish hold in the the head of the runs, pools, and prime feeding lies
    They're the top dog, and push smaller fish behind them.  Again, I've seen this time and time again in my fly fishing.  I actually expect the fish to get bigger as I work my way up a run or pool.  Just the other week I caught 8 brown trout out of one pool.  I started by casting into the back end of the pool and caught 3-4 fish in the 10-12 inch range.  I started casting further up the pool and proceeded to catch a couple fish around 14 inches.  Closer to the head of the pool I caught a couple nice 16 inch specimens.  Finally, I cast into a fast seam tumbling over some rocks right before entering the head of the pool.  There I hooked and landed the biggest fish, an 18 inch brown trout with solid shoulders, deep colors, and a nice kype.  It was a very healthy male and a great fish for that particular stream.  The biggest fish will stake out the prime feeding lies, so target those.

5.  Know what the fish eat
     Are there crawdads (crayfish, crawfish) in the water?  Then fish something to imitate those.  I guarantee the biggest fish will be eating them.  Are there sculpins in the stream?  Fish those.  Big articulated sculpins are my personal favorite to catch big fish.  Are there a lot of baitfish or minnows?  You better have some flies to imitate them.  Trout are predators and the big ones will attack these food sources with no degree of subtlety.

6.  Take Advantage of the spawn
     Don't fish the redds or walk over them!  We want the fish to reproduce successfully to sustain our fisheries, but during the spawn, trout are aggressive and defensive.  Take advantage by fishing every inch of water with big streamers.  If you haven't enticed an eat within a few casts, keep moving.  I've found the fish strike out of aggression within the first cast or two during spawning season.  If you're getting follows but no eats, switch up the retrieve, and then your fly if you're still not getting strikes.

7.  Fish late evening or early morning
     Again, I've caught big fish all throughout the day, but the most have been landed late in the evening.  By the time evening rolls around, the fish are getting hungry again, and the deepening shadows help camouflage and hide them from predators (this is true for early morning also). This is a great time for hatches as well.  The fish let down their guard a little and eat with more abandon.  Mistakes on your part will be more easily forgiven, offering you much better chances of hooking a large fish.  My father-in-law hooked a huge rainbow trout on a small dry fly at dusk a couple years ago on the Farmington River in CT.  It took him to his backing and took him 30 minutes to get it to his feet. Unfortunately, his net was too small.  As he was trying to get the trout's head into the net, it flipped out and snapped his tippet.  He lunged for the fish but just got a face full of water.  The fish was gone.  It had been as long as his arm.  He called me immediately afterwards and we had a good cry.

8.  Spend more time fishing!
      It's a numbers game.  The more fish you catch, the higher your chances of hooking your trophy fish.  Follow the above tips and spend more time on the water figuring it out, and you'll hook into bigger fish.

21" inch female brown trout that ate a sculpin

Big 22" male rainbow trout

23" male brown trout

21" male brown trout on a streamer

Simms Headwaters Convertible Waders Review

      Last spring Simms announced their new lineup of products.  Among the bulletproof offerings was the supposedly new and improved Headwaters waders.  They were now convertible from chest high to waist high waders and sported a 3 layer GORE-TEX Pro Shell technology. I probably can't explain the Pro Shell as well as Simms, so here's the link http://www.simmsfishing.com/gore-tex-shells.  It basically says the Pro Shell is the most rugged, durable, breathable, and waterproof material they have.  I haven't ever owned Simms waders, but as a fly fisherman and guide I definitely know their reputation.  My apparel of choice, since our fly shop is an Orvis dealer, has been Orvis.  My waders and boots were nice Orvis products, but were a couple seasons old and were showing some battle scars.  I lost one such battle to a willow that punctured the seat of my waders and, consequently, my pride.  So I was hunting for the next pair of waders to abuse.  Friend and fellow guide Jace Adams had been rocking a pair of Simms G3 Guide convertible waders that were bombproof.  They were at least four years old and going strong.  This is quite a feat knowing Jace because he's harder on his gear than anyone I know.  In that same time I can think of at least 3 pairs of wading boots he annihilated, but his waders are still great.  I was also jealous of the fact he could change his waders on the fly from chest high to waist high waders.  This was the biggest selling point for me.  We walk and wade a lot of small creeks (actually, none of the rivers we guide on are big enough to float) and rarely wade higher than our waists. We work up a sweat hiking up and down creeks all day long.  The ability to change my waders to help my comfort level became a top priority.  The Simms Headwaters were available March 2014.  I bought my pair in May and called it an early Father's Day present.  My wife loved that.
 
      Well, I've ruined myself for life.  I warned my wife that I was ruined after one busy week during the summer.  I was busy most evenings fishing the (huge) green drake hatch and had done three guided trips too. And for the record, when brown trout are keying in on size 10 dry flies, you have to fish!  After crawling and scrambling over rocks, up and down river banks, and plowing through thorns and thick vegetation that whole week, I realized my waders weren't even scuffed!  Seriously, it was incredible.  The waders were very comfortable and actually a joy to be fishing in. Especially since I wore them as waist waders during the heat of the day and then chest highs once the sun started to set and the temperature dropped.  I have no problem wearing them all day long, traveling to and from the river.  That has never been the case before.  And after almost a year of fishing and guiding, the waders are still remarkably clean and completely waterproof with no pin holes or leaks.  This is why I've been ruined for life.  Once you've owned the best, it's hard to settle for anything less.  It's like the time my friend showed up at my house in a brand new luxury Jaguar XJ and let me drive it . . . I thought I had broken something when I sat down and it automatically adjusted my seat for me to the optimal driving position based on my height. And apparently the car remembers each person's custom setting for the next time . . . the car was so powerful, yet silent and smooth, that I now compare everything else to it.  This is what my new Simms waders felt like. All my other waders were fine and did the job, but not with the same comfort and quality.  The cost of the waders scared my wife upfront, but now I see that the investment is well worth it.  I expect to get at least 4 years of use out of these, like Jace and his G3's, but most likely they'll last even longer.  My Orvis waders lasted two years before letting water in along the seams like busted water main.  The two pairs of waders I owned before that only lasted a year each.  So in three out of four years I had to purchase new waders.  I can already tell that won't be the case with my Simms.
 
       The waders are backed by Simms' ironclad warranty and I have no problem endorsing these waders.  The $400 is steep up front (trust me, I understand, I'm a married college student with 2 kids) but the investment is worth it.  The conversion from chest high to waist waders is simple and easy.  They have a small zippered chest pocket for a few small items; the belt system is heavy-duty and tough, and the the waders are very durable.  Just by handling them you can tell they're sturdy and well crafted.  They look good too! I'm a Simms fan for life now and can say with pride I've been ruined in the best way.  At least I'm not buying Jaguars . . . yet.

FLY SPOTLIGHT - What we currently can't keep enough of in our boxes.

The Shop Vac

For such a simple pattern the shop vac seems to deliver in every season and is one of my go to flies.  It is essentially a zebra midge with pearl midge flash, white zelon etc. that supposedly represents the air bubble of small emerging bugs.  I’m not sure about all that, but I am absolutely sure that this thing works!  It, like a zebra midge, imitates a midge pupa or other small larva, cranefly, baetis nymph etc.  I have most recently been using it in olive green to imitate the caddis larva that our local waters are currently full of.  I like to tie mine with peacock herl at the thorax as opposed to dubbing, but that is just my preference.  For the past several weeks on guided trips I have started my clients on nymph rigs in the morning hours and on pretty much every rig I have tied on a shop vac with something like a stonefly or pheasant tail as the top fly with the shop vac on the bottom.  Easily 80% of the fish have been on the shop vac and when the bugs start really hatching I go to a dry fly.  You better believe if I dropped something off of the dry it’s been the shop vac as of late, and the takes continue.  I have tied them in many colors but I personally like olive, black and red.  If you don’t have shop vac’s in your box you better change that, and trust me you won’t regret it.