ONE HOUR SEMINARS

One hour seminars

Where Trout Are: Beyond Reading the Water
Just as we go to the dinner table to eat, trout go to feeding lies to eat. Reading the water starts with understanding feeding lanes and food distribution in the river, which then proceeds to identifying trout feeding lies in all types of water. But if we take reading the water to the next level, it allows us to choose the best method and approach for every fishing situation. We’ll also be able to pick out high confidence lies where trout are approachable for short range techniques and spot prime lies to target the largest fish. Water temperature is a great determinate of trout location; we have to know how trout respond. This one hour interactive presentation with case studies will help you catch more trout.

Nymph Fishing Secret Weapons
Are you catching more fish than you’re missing when nymph fishing? It’s a question we’ve all asked ourselves at some time or another. And with good cause because we can’t evaluate the quality of our drift and can’t see strikes. Or can we? Additionally, nymph fishing has gotten pretty confusing lately. No facet of our sport has changed more rapidly than nymph fishing- from new products, new methods and refinements of previous methods.  But it doesn’t have to be so confusing! This one hour seminar lays the foundation for a nymph fishing system that eliminates much of the guesswork first by identifying the challenges of nymph fishing, setting three specific goals for successful nymph fishing and then presenting solutions that will help you catch more fish.

What Trout See and Why it Matters
What trout see and the way in which they see it impacts not only fly design and construction, but also how we present those flies on the river. While trout have excellent hearing and a keen sense of smell, they are visual hunters. To catch them, we must fool them through their sense of sight. Like most other visual hunters including birds of prey, they use a search image. They compare our flies to the natural food source using four specific criteria. If we pass that four step evaluation, we stand a good chance of fooling them. But what about the trout that refuses our fly? What information can we glean from near and close range refusals? Also, do trout really see Ultraviolet light? Come and find out.

When All Else Fails: Catching Fish When Fishings Tough.
We all like to fish on days when myriads of insects lift from the water and trout rise to our dry flies, but those days are not as common as the other days when we have to work hard for every fish. When fishing’s great but catching is slow, we need methods and tactics that give us the best chance to put a few more fish in the net. Starting with an analysis of the reasons why the day’s fishing is slow slow, this one hour presentation identifies possible solutions which include finding trout based on water temperatures, searching flies and prospecting methods as well as finesse tactics and strategies for heavily pressured trout

Reaching the Upper 10%
Lefty Kreh told me many times that 10% of all anglers catch 90% of the trout, which convinced me that I wanted to be in that upper ten percent. But how? This one hour presentation covers tips and tactics used by elite anglers to elevate their game- everything from leader construction and rigging to variations on presentation. We’ll identify transition zones in both rivers and streams, and discuss how to fish them. We’ll review some basics but often overlooked topics: Matching the right rod, reel, line and leader is different for fishing small streams compared to larger rivers. New products help with this. We need to plan for hooksets and playing our fish and where we can best land them. Choosing the right knot for small flies and and a different one for larger flies and streamers is vital to improve presentation. Learn alternatives to dead drift presentations both for dry flies and for nymphing.

Seasonal Angling Strategies; part one- Winter
The first priority in any seasonal angling strategy is finding the fish and the second is finding what they’re eating. The winter river is much different than in any other season; the food trout eat varies in amount, type and distribution in the winter. If we adjust accordingly, we can make the most of winter fishing opportunities.This allows us to find fish and choose the best flies to catch them.

Seasonal Angling Strategies; part two- Summer
Summer’s a time of warmth and sunny afternoons, but what does warm water and full sun do to trout? They adjust much differently to warm conditions than humans, but understanding how they react to the conditions is key to catching summertime fish. Fish still eat in the summer, but their feeding behavior changes and our angling strategy must follow suit if we’re going to successfully fish the summer river.

Old School Wet Flies
Often overlooked, wet flies and soft hackles often give the angler an opportunity to catch reluctant trout that need a little enticement in the form of movement and animation. By allowing broad coverage of water, wet flies are ideal searching patterns when trout are difficult. By combining dead drift with animated swings allows the angler to present the flies with a variety of appearances to the trout. This one hour seminar can be expanded to include tying a few effective wet fly patterns and even on-stream instruction, which can be offered as a 2 1/2 hour workshop.

The Catch of your Life
Successful fishing methods are based successful feeding methods of trout. Small, medium or large- trout feed much differently at each stage and our angling strategy targets a specific group. When the target is large trout, we have to change our methods and think like a big trout. This program helps understand trout feeding behavior and fishing tactics to target large fish.

                                                                     WORKSHOP/CLASSES:  2 1/2 HOURS

Advanced Nymph Fishing Workshop
Best suited for groups of twelve or less, usually intermediate or above skill level. This can be offered in a class room or a stream-side program. This 2 1/2 hour workshop covers advanced nymph fishing methods and tactics building a systematic approach based on reading the water to allow the angler to choose the best method for each water type. Find out when and how to get the most out of strike indicators, using new and more accurate products, plus new innovations in their use. What is a readable indicator and which are most accurate? Learn to balance your rig to improve your catch rate. Discover when and how to use euronymphing or other tight line techniques. Tie some new knots and practice leader construction in the ‘hands on’ portion.

Euronymphing workshop
For all skill levels. This workshop demystifies euronymphing by simplifying and consolidating the Czech, Polish, French and Spanish methods into one versatile system. You’ll appreciate that euronymphing is so productive because it effectively reaches the three goals of nymph fishing.  A simplified leader and common sense approach to rigging makes the preparation go smoothly. The correct technique will give you a drag free presentation and troubleshooting of your drift tells you when you’re doing it right. You’ll also learn variations in presentation to tempt reluctant trout. By the end of this program, you’ll be ready to hit the water and feel confident adding this technique to your nymphing arsenal.