Trout Fishing Tips from 100+ Podcast Guests, Sorted by What Actually Works
This roundup collects 22 trout tips from guests on the Fly Fishing Insider Podcast — guides and anglers from the Rocky Mountains to Alaska to Europe — covering fly selection, reading water, rigging for depth, presentation and stillwater tactics for catching more trout, wherever you fish for them.
Every episode of the Fly Fishing Insider Podcast ends the same way. In the closing minutes, host Christian Bacasa asks the guest for one tip — something they'd tell a stranger on the river if they only had a minute. Guests answer with what actually works for them, not a generic checklist.
This article pulls together 22 of those trout tips, drawn from episodes recorded between November 2020 and January 2024 — episode 63 through episode 228. The guests range from an Alaska lodge marketing director and a Utah stillwater angler to a Pennsylvania drift boat guide, a European huchen hunter, and a Trout Unlimited advocate.
They're organized below by what the tip actually helps you do: take care of the fish and the water, pick a fly, read water, present it right, rig for depth, or work a lake or a swing. Jump to any section, or read straight through.
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Conservation and Handling Trout Right
TIP 01 · CONSERVATION
Buy a conservation membership like it's part of your kit
— A Trout Unlimited New Mexico water and habitat program director · Episode 63 - Trout Unlimited - Three Different Stories , One Goal., EP 63
A Trout Unlimited membership is just a basic thing anglers should have, like a rod and a reel. It's basically a subscription to a magazine that tells you about all the things that go into productive fisheries.
Why it matters. Trout Unlimited membership money funds habitat work and keeps you plugged into what's actually threatening your local trout water. Treat it the same as a rod or a reel — it's part of being an angler, not an add-on.
How to do it. Join Trout Unlimited if you fish for trout, or a species-specific group if you chase something else. Actually read what they send you so you know what's happening on your home water. Find a local chapter near a river you love and show up — a cleanup day, a restoration project, a meeting. Involvement gives you your own ideas about what to do next.
TIP 02 · CONSERVATION
Protect riverbanks and pinch your barbs for healthier trout water
— Mark Kurlansky, author of "Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of a Common Fate" · Episode 105 - Mark Kurlansky - History of Salmon, S3E105
Building homes on riverbanks is a really bad idea — try to keep riverbanks wild. And catch and release, of course, barbless hooks. You might lose a few more fish, but it's worth it.
Why it matters. Trampled banks and barbed hooks add up over a season of pressure, on trout water as much as salmon water. Neither costs you anything to fix, and both are inside your control every time you go out.
How to do it. Wade the river instead of walking the bank wherever you can — banks hold the streamside cover trout depend on. Pinch your barbs so a released trout takes less handling and less time out of the water. Treat catch and release as the default, not something you decide fish by fish, and accept that barbless means you'll lose a few more than you'd like.
TIP 03 · HOOKSETS
Strip-set with a tucked rod to stop trout-setting light tippet
— John, Utah stillwater kick-boat angler known for the "Crazy Ivan" trolling technique · The Crazy Ivan Technique for Stillwater Fly Fishing, S3E126
Every once in a while I'll do a tarpon strip — tuck the rod under my arm and strip overhand as fast as I can. You almost can't trout-set. If you trout-set a sensitive fish like our local cutthroat, say good night, it's all done.
Why it matters. A reflexive rod-lift on the strike is how you lose sensitive trout on light tippet — the rod yanks the fly away or snaps you off before the fish is ever pinned. A strip-set removes the temptation entirely.
How to do it. Tuck the rod handle under your arm so lifting it isn't an option, then strip line overhand as fast as you can on the retrieve. Any strike gets answered with a strip, not a rod-lift, which keeps tension without the violence that breaks off light tippet. On stillwater especially, if a trout misses the fly, keep stripping — it'll often come back and eat again.
What Fly Should You Tie On First?
TIP 04 · FLY SELECTION
Keep a black leech in the box for any trout water
— Kyle Shea, Alaska fishing lodge marketing director and former guide · GDF 09: Kyle Shea PT 2
It changes through the season, but if I had to fish one thing, I'd say a sculpin or a black leech — a black leech is something you could fish anywhere in the world for anything.
Why it matters. Alaska trout behavior swings hard with the salmon run, and that can leave you guessing at fly choice all season. One reliable, confidence-inspiring pattern gives you a fallback when you don't know what else to throw.
How to do it. Carry a black leech as your default trout fly — it fishes anywhere in the world for pretty much anything. Add a sculpin pattern for the same meat-eating look. Once salmon are running, layer in mouse and flesh flies for the bigger, more visual eats trout key on once they're locked onto that food source.
TIP 05 · FLY SELECTION
Pick one confidence fly and commit to it for the day
— Ben Gerloff, guide and military veteran · Veteran Wellness, Targeting Fish at Their Level and Why You Don't Change Flies - Ben Gerloff, S5E198
There's only four primary insect profiles the fish are targeting in any western trout water — size, shape and color. If you don't have faith in your fly, don't fish it.
Why it matters. Constantly swapping flies chasing a hot pattern wastes fishing time and pulls your attention away from what actually catches trout — depth, drift and presentation. One trusted pattern you believe in lets you focus on the parts of the game that matter more.
How to do it. Pick one buggy, middle-of-the-road pattern per rough bug profile — mayfly, caddis, stonefly, midge — that roughly matches the streambed color, and commit to it for the session. When trout won't eat, check your depth and drift before you touch the fly box. If you want to test your own faith in a fly, fish only that one pattern for a full day.
TIP 06 · FLY SELECTION
Carry a Sharpie to recolor one fly in the field
— Zach Lassek, early-career fly fishing guide in Park City, Utah · How it Feels to Be a New Guide on High Pressured Water - Zach Lassek, S5E201
Sometimes you have one fly and the color isn't quite right, or it needs to be a little darker to match what's hatching — throw a little black on the underbelly, keep everything else the same, and that's the ticket.
Why it matters. New anglers feel like they need a different fly for every hatch color, which gets expensive and turns fly selection into decision paralysis on the water. A couple of Sharpies let one solid pattern cover a lot more ground.
How to do it. Carry a small core of one generalist dry — a gray parachute Adams in a range of sizes — plus a black and brown Sharpie, with olive or green if you want a third option. When the natural bugs look a shade darker or different than your fly, color the body or underbelly right there instead of digging for an exact match. It works especially well on mayfly emergers, where shape and size matter more than precise color.
TIP 07 · FLY SELECTION
Carry fewer flies and spend the time on your drift
— Leonard Schoenberger, European fly fishing writer and guide based near Munich · Munich, Germany and Its Variety of Fishing and Culture, S5E214
Anglers who are less experienced have a hard time making a decision — they open a box with a hundred flies and don't know which one to pick. Most of the time I bring like two nymphs and a couple of dry flies, and that's it.
Why it matters. A packed fly box tempts you to burn fishing time swapping patterns every time a trout refuses a cast. That time comes straight out of the time you'd spend fixing drift and presentation, which matters more to whether a trout eats.
How to do it. Limit yourself to a small number of proven patterns before you head out — two nymphs and a couple of dry flies is plenty. When a trout refuses a good presentation, don't reach for a new fly first — check your drift, leader length and approach angle. Only change patterns once you've confirmed the presentation itself is as good as you can make it.
How Do You Find Where Trout Are Holding?
TIP 08 · READING WATER
Ask where the trout are before you ask what they eat
— Bill Nolan, Pennsylvania drift boat and fly fishing guide · Proficiency in Multiple Styles, Fly Fishing Out of a Boat and Mending - Bill Nolan, S5E193
Everybody asks what flies are they hitting on. Instead of asking that question, ask: where are the fish at? Are they in the riffles, the pools, are they deep, are they surface feeding? That's the question that actually matters.
Why it matters. Fly selection feels like the quick fix, so it's the question everyone asks first, but it matters less than finding trout in the right water and depth. Chasing the hot fly while fishing empty water wastes time you'd spend better relocating.
How to do it. Before you worry about fly pattern, study the water and figure out where trout are actually holding — riffles, pools, deep runs, or near the surface — based on temperature, time of day and structure. Once you know where the fish are, dial in depth and a reasonably matching fly. A so-so fly presented to fish that are actually there beats a perfect fly presented to empty water.
TIP 09 · READING WATER
Fish a river in a systematic grid, not the easy spot
— Cliff Watson, Colorado-based guide and Trout Unlimited conservation advocate · Pebble Mine Then and Now and the Tactical Grid Fishing Technique, S5E204
When I approach a river, I think of it as a grid, from the two inches of water on this bank to the two inches on the far side. I nymph through each section in turn, and if it's not working, I ask whether I'm too shallow, too deep, or have the wrong flies.
Why it matters. It's easy to unconsciously fish the same comfortable few feet of water over and over while zoning out, which wastes time on water that's already shown you nothing. A systematic grid forces you to cover the whole run instead of just the convenient parts of it.
How to do it. Before fishing a run, mentally divide it into roughly three-foot-wide sections from bank to bank, and think in depth too — near-surface, mid-column, bottom. Work through the grid with your best-guess depth and fly on the first pass, then change one variable at a time if it's not producing — depth, then fly, then color. Keep track of which sections you've already covered so you're always presenting to fresh water.
TIP 10 · READING WATER
Work a tail-out pool bottom to top, save the eddy last
— Corbin Rinehart, Central Pennsylvania multi-species fly angler · Joe Humphreys's and Going from Trout to Multispecies, S6E225
Fish sit facing into the current, so coming down on a pool from the top has a good chance of spooking them. I often find my biggest fish sitting in the back eddy — it takes them the least effort to hold there, and they can pick and choose what to eat.
Why it matters. Trout face into the current, so working a pool from the top down puts your shadow and your wading disturbance right in front of fish before you ever cast to them. Covering a pool bottom to top both avoids spooking fish and targets the low-effort water — like eddies — where the biggest trout often sit.
How to do it. Approach a tail-out pool from downstream whenever you can, walking around it if a direct upstream wade isn't possible. Fish the slow gravel at the very bottom of the pool first, then work up through the belly, then the hard break into the riffle, and finish with any back eddy on either side — that's often where the biggest trout in the pool are holding. Keep the drift drag-free the whole way.
TIP 11 · READING WATER
Scan the water in a grid before you make a cast
— Jan Axtell, Livingston, Montana spring creek fly fishing guide · Spring Creeks and Spot Fishing the Livingston Montana Area, S6E228
I bring binoculars, and they tell me a lot — are they eating a spinner, are they eating midges. I break the water down into a grid and go through it systematically — the bottom tells you where the depression is, and nine times out of ten the fish is going to be in that depression.
Why it matters. Anglers who only scan for a visible fish shape give up on good water they can't see into, and pass over productive lies they never spot. Reading the water systematically finds trout even when you can't see them, and tells you exactly where to drop the fly.
How to do it. Get out early for a spinner fall, since trout eating dead bugs off the surface are less wary and easier to target. Carry binoculars to confirm what stage of the hatch trout are keyed on — spinners, midges, nymphs. Break the water into a grid and work it in order: scan the surface for rises first, then look at the bottom for depressions, since that's usually where the fish is holding. Position yourself behind the depression and cast above it.
TIP 12 · READING WATER
Approach spring creek pools from downstream, tail-out first
— Mel Hayner, Minnesota driftless-region fly fishing guide and shop owner · Driftless Region History and Spring Creek Stealth Approach Tactics - Mel Hayner, S5E203
Stealth is more important than anything because the streams are shallow, clear, and in drought years the fish are concentrated. If you wade right into the bottom of a pool, it scoots fish upstream and sets off the alarm for the rest of them.
Why it matters. On small, clear, shallow water, trout spook off wading disturbance, a splashy cast or even your shadow, and a clumsy approach can shut down an entire pool before you make a cast. Wading straight into a pool from the bottom pushes trout upstream and alerts everything holding above.
How to do it. Approach pools from downstream, moving slowly and staying low, and watch where your shadow is falling relative to the sun. Fish the tail-out and lower stretch of a pool first with careful, splash-free casts, then work upstream gradually so you're not disturbing water you haven't fished yet. Save your best, most precise cast for the head of the pool or any cover, since that's usually where the biggest trout holds and you may only get one shot.
Presentation and Drift Once You're On the Water
TIP 13 · PRESENTATION
Keep the fly on the water instead of false casting
— Ben Gerloff, guide and military veteran · Veteran Wellness, Targeting Fish at Their Level and Why You Don't Change Flies - Ben Gerloff, S5E198
Less casting is the best casting. There are only three reasons you should be false casting: to change direction, to build up line speed, and to look good to your girlfriend. If your fly's not in the water, you don't have a chance to catch a fish.
Why it matters. Chasing the perfect cast means more time false-casting and repositioning and less time your fly is actually presented to a trout. Extra false casts also raise the odds of spooking fish with line shadow and slap.
How to do it. Resist picking up and recasting just because the placement wasn't perfect — let the drift finish and use small mends to keep the fly fishing instead of yanking it out. Only false-cast when you genuinely need to change direction or build line speed, not out of habit. When trout are rising nearby but you can't quite reach them, keep the fly on the water — they often work an area in a pattern and will eventually move into range.
TIP 14 · PRESENTATION
Switch mend direction as the water changes under the boat
— Bill Nolan, Pennsylvania drift boat and fly fishing guide · Proficiency in Multiple Styles, Fly Fishing Out of a Boat and Mending - Bill Nolan, S5E193
As a drift boat guide, my job is to keep that fly in the water. Heading into shallower riffle water, I'll throw a big forward mend in. Once we're back into the deeper water, I'll mend back upstream and let the flies lead the way.
Why it matters. In a drift boat the angle between you, the indicator and the current keeps changing, so a mend that works from a stationary wading position can pull your flies right out of the strike zone. Adjusting mend direction as the water changes keeps the flies fishing instead of skating or riding too high.
How to do it. Coming into a riffle or shallower stretch, throw a forward mend to shorten the drift angle and let the current pull the flies through without hanging up. Once you're back in a deeper run, throw a back mend instead — it brings the indicator toward the boat, lets the flies sink, and settles them onto the shelf where bigger trout typically hold. Learn to spot the transition point where the bottom drops off so you know exactly when to switch.
TIP 15 · PRESENTATION
Lift your line slowly before the next cast
— Zeke Hersh, Colorado River drift-boat fly fishing guide · How You Fish the Colorado from a Boat?, S5E221
When you're getting ready to cast, lift very, very slowly for the first couple feet of your lift, then you can accelerate. A lot of times they'll eat on that slow little lift, and on magic days you can catch fish on basically every lift.
Why it matters. Most anglers rip their line off the water in one motion to recast, which throws away the fly's final rise through the water column as a trigger. That rising fly can look enough like an emerging insect that trout key in on it specifically.
How to do it. Before picking up your line for the next cast, slow the first couple feet of the lift instead of pulling straight up and out. Let the fly rise gradually through the water before you accelerate into the backcast. Stay alert right at that moment — once you notice the pattern, strikes on the slow lift happen predictably enough to fish for on purpose.
TIP 16 · PRESENTATION
Land your leader connected instead of piled to feel strikes
— Kaitlen and Jess Westbrook, husband-and-wife team of Arkansas-based fly fishing guides and Mayfly Project mentors · Bull Trout, Alaska Guiding and the Mayfly Project, S5E224
If you pile up your leader when you land, the water grabs that slack line and pulls it downstream, so it looks tight but it isn't — that parachute of slack under the water is pulling your indicator down, which mimics tension.
Why it matters. A piled leader creates a false sense of tension — current tugging on slack line makes the rig look tight even when it isn't connected to the fly at all — and real strikes go completely undetected. Trout eating and spitting the fly without you ever seeing it is usually a rigging problem, not a fish problem.
How to do it. Land your leader connected, lowering the fly into the water smoothly instead of letting it collapse into a pile with slack for the current to grab. Match your tippet diameter to conditions and depth rather than defaulting heavier than you need — thinner tippet sinks straighter and telegraphs strikes more directly. Size your indicator or bead to the fly you're using, since an oversized indicator can mask a subtle take just as easily as a piled leader.
Rigging for Depth
TIP 17 · RIGGING
Overweight your nymph rig and harden the putty first
— Ben Gerloff, guide and military veteran · Veteran Wellness, Targeting Fish at Their Level and Why You Don't Change Flies - Ben Gerloff, S5E198
Throw on more weight than you're comfortable with, because you can always peel it back off. Make sure you hit bottom every cast. You'll get snagged more, but you'll catch way more fish.
Why it matters. An under-weighted nymph rig drifts above the strike zone and never gets eaten, but most anglers avoid adding enough weight because they're afraid of snagging or losing tungsten putty off the line. Getting comfortable with more weight keeps your fly where the trout actually are.
How to do it. Pinch a middle-weight split shot just above your tippet knot as an anchor point, then mold tungsten putty around it, fully encapsulating the shot. Dip the rigged weight in the water for a few seconds before casting so it hardens slightly and doesn't fly off on a roll cast. Aim to feel or see bottom on most casts — if you're not occasionally snagging, add more weight, not less, and use a roll cast or water load instead of false-casting a heavy rig.
TIP 18 · RIGGING
Rig a dry-dropper to fish shallow water without an indicator
— Zeke Hersh, Colorado River drift-boat fly fishing guide · How You Fish the Colorado from a Boat?, S5E221
It's basically a dry dropper technique. Use a big chubby or big attractor dry fly, then about 3 to 4 feet of dropper tag down to a Pat's Rubber Legs or a big stone, then trail about 16 inches off that to a Prince Nymph or a San Juan Worm.
Why it matters. A traditional indicator rig is awkward to cast tight to banks and in shallow water, and re-tying a snaggy nymph rig eats into fishing time. A dry-dropper covers similar depth in shallower water and gives you a visible fly to watch instead of a bobber.
How to do it. Tie a large attractor dry — a chubby works well — to a 6- to 7-foot leader in 2X or 3X tippet. Off the bend of that hook, run 3 to 4 feet of tippet down to your heaviest fly, something like a rubber-legged stonefly, then add about 16 inches off that fly's bend to a lighter trailing fly like a Prince Nymph or San Juan Worm that rides higher in the column. Shorten the dropper in warmer, higher water and lengthen it as water clears and cools.
TIP 19 · RIGGING
Fish two flies and keep swapping until both produce
— Bob Terwilliger, backcountry horseback and mule-supported fly fishing guide · Fly Fishing on Horseback in High Mountain Rivers and Lakes, S5E196
My objective when I'm using two flies is that I want to be catching fish on both flies — if I'm not, I'm switching, even if it means re-tying the top fly. That strategy is a huge part of what keeps clients in fish most of the day.
Why it matters. A single fly only tests one size, color and depth at a time, so fishing one pattern alone means guessing. Running two different flies together lets you test two ideas on every cast and find what's working that day faster.
How to do it. On rivers, rig a high-floating attractor — a foam hopper or elk hair caddis — with a small nymph dropper underneath. On stillwater, run a streamer up front on a loop knot for action, with a bigger nymph about 16 inches off the back. Track which fly each trout eats, and if one isn't producing, swap it out — even the top fly — rather than sticking with it out of habit.
Stillwater and Swinging Tactics for Bigger Trout
TIP 20 · STILLWATER
Count down out loud to find the strike zone in a lake
— Jon Easdo, guide at a Colorado Springs-area fly shop specializing in stillwater trout · Migrating Your Fly Fishing to Stillwater, S5E211
Think of a stillwater lake as a layer cake and use a systematic countdown to find the layer fish are holding in. Say the count out loud to yourself so that once you find success you can repeat that exact depth on the next cast.
Why it matters. Without a consistent method, you have no way of knowing what depth actually produced a strike on a lake, so a good cast becomes impossible to repeat. A countdown turns depth from a guess into something you can track and repeat on purpose.
How to do it. After each cast, count out loud before starting your retrieve — begin with a short count like three seconds, and lengthen it a few seconds on each following cast until you connect. Once you get a strike, remember and repeat that exact count on the next casts to keep fishing the same depth. Re-adjust through the day, since trout typically move deeper as the sun climbs, and again whenever you move to a different part of the lake.
TIP 21 · SWINGING
Wade the deep, ugly bank to reach the swung fly's bucket
— Joshua Boese, Twin Cities-area guide who swings flies for steelhead and other species on local rivers · Fishing Within Three Hours of Minneapolis, S5E213
If you cast from the shallow side, your fly lands way above the fish's head. Stand on the deeper side of the river and cast out into the shallow water, and your fly gets deeper and deeper as it swings across — by the time you hit your hang-down you're right in the fish's face.
Why it matters. Most anglers wade the easy, shallow bank out of habit, which means a swung fly passes well above the trout holding in the deep bucket on the far side and only reaches them briefly, if at all. Standing in the harder water gets the fly progressively deeper and finishes the swing right in front of holding fish.
How to do it. Figure out which bank of the run is deep and which is shallow — the deep side is usually where trout hold. Wade the uncomfortable deep side, or get in as deep as you safely can, and cast across to the shallow bank, letting the fly's depth build as it swings toward you. Add a few small pops or twitches once it's in the deep water, and pay attention through the full hang-down — a lot of grabs come right as the fly stops swinging in front of the fish.
TIP 22 · SWINGING
Swing streamers at 45 degrees for big trout in murky water
— Leonard Schoenberger, European fly fishing writer and guide based near Munich · Munich, Germany and Its Variety of Fishing and Culture, S5E214
From my experience, the smallest flies often catch the biggest trout. I cast across the river at about a 45-degree angle and let it swing, and I've often found they take the fly right at the end of the swing, just before you start stripping.
Why it matters. Big, wary trout are rarely fooled by an obvious presentation, and you only get so many real shots per fish in a session. A slower, salmon-style swing in slightly off-color water plays to when these trout are most willing to commit.
How to do it. Target periods when the water is rising, falling, or a little murky rather than gin-clear — trout get bolder and less cautious when visibility drops. Cast streamers across and slightly downstream at roughly a 45-degree angle and let them swing rather than stripping right away, and pay close attention right at the end of the swing, where most takes happen. Go smaller than you'd think on nymphs too — the biggest trout often take the smallest fly.
Trout Fishing Tips: Frequently Asked Questions
What's the most important trout fly to have in your box?
Guests on the Fly Fishing Insider Podcast point less to a specific pattern and more to confidence and simplicity: a go-anywhere black leech, a gray parachute Adams you can recolor with a Sharpie, or just two nymphs and a couple of dry flies. Committing to one trusted fly and fixing your drift matters more than the fly itself.
How deep should you fish for trout?
There's no fixed number — find it with a system. On stillwater, count down out loud after each cast, lengthening the count until you connect, then repeat that exact count. In moving water, weight your nymph rig until you're occasionally ticking bottom, or run a dry-dropper with 3 to 4 feet to your heaviest fly.
How do you avoid spooking trout before you cast?
Approach from downstream, not from above — trout face into the current and pick up movement from behind them last. Fish the tail-out and lower gravel of a pool first, work upstream gradually, and save the best cast for the head of the pool or a back eddy, where the biggest trout typically hold.
Why do you keep missing strikes when nymphing for trout?
Usually it's the leader, not bad luck. A piled leader lets current grab the slack and fake tension, hiding real strikes completely. Land your leader connected instead of piled, match tippet size to conditions, and lift your line slowly before recasting — trout often eat right on that slow lift.
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