All Posts By:

Jason Shemchuk
Tactics and Techniques

A Simple Way to Extend Your Drift. Move.

When picky trout make extended drifts a requirement for hooking up, I look for every advantage I can to give the fish a good, long look at my fly. Almost more than anything else I have found that if I can present the fly in a natural way, my odds of hooking up increase. Working for longer drifts means lengthening that natural presentation as well. The basic pattern of presentation is familiar. Cast. Mend as required. Maybe feed some line at the end of the drift. All require skill gained through experience and possibly instruction. But there is another rudimentary tactic that can give us a little extra if we need it. A simple method that any fly fisher, regardless of skill level or experience, can use to extend their drift. Move.
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On April 12, 2021 • By
2
Tactics and Techniques

Techniques for Casting “With” the Wind.

Working with the wind is an attitude as much as a technique. For years, a windy day frustrated me, and that frustration carried over into the rest of my fishing and made for worse drifts, mends, and hook sets. In short, a windy day on the river tended to slowly burn my patience fuse and put me in a bad mood. Now I try to look at the wind for what it is – another problem to solve. And I work with the wind to keep me tied to the river and my environment.
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On April 2, 2021 • By
2
Photo from Troutbitten.
Podcast

Podcast 33 | Fly Presentation and Fighting Trout with Domenick Swentosky from Troutbitten.

“Hey! Keep it tactical Shady.” And a smile. I miss it dearly. Talking tactics is one of life’s great joys. I learned this from years in a fighter squadron but looking back I understand why talking tactics was so special. I realize that while the endeavors and communities are different, the men and women who move through them seek similar goals. Progress. Knowledge. The betterment of the whole. And, yes, a touch of competitive spirit that pulls us forward and requires our best. Engaging these “tacticians” in the fly fishing community and sharing those experiences has become one of the great joys of my journey with Wadeoutthere. Talking tactics with dedicated fly fishing men and women who passionately share their knowledge and listen for those ideas they know will move them forward. People like Domenick from Troutbitten.
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On March 31, 2021 • By
0
Reattack

Look Through, and Fish the Flash

The first time I fished Mammoth Creek, I drove past them. The fences were weathered grey and white cedar bleached by the sun. Faded and torn, the old coral melded into the tall grass along the river. Part of the landscape. I noticed them just before the gravel road took me up a small hill behind wide oak trees that reached over and made a tunnel for my small white truck. I drove on until I knew that those worn posts had been the landmark. “The Corals”. Then I travelled further through the beams of light that penetrated the trees and strobed off the white gravel until I found a spot where I could make a three point turn and drive back through my dust cloud towards The Corals and access to the river.
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On March 26, 2021 • By
0
Photo from Nate Tower.
Podcast

Podcast 32 | Maine Brook Trout with Nate Tower.

Brook trout have always been a mountain fish to me. From my early years backpacking into the Beartooth wilderness, I remember camping in meadows and along creeks. Sharing time between catching brookies and cooling my feet in the ice cold streams they inhabited. Brook trout are granite peaks and snow lingering in grey rockslides. Long sunsets in Montana’s big skies above deep green and purple grasses. Lungs full of mountain air. My mind empty of worries. Talking with Nate, about his love for Maine and its many fisheries that hold wild, native brook trout populations, I felt connected. Reminded that these fish not only tie us to our own memories, they tie us together.
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On March 24, 2021 • By
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