This week’s picture is brought to you by Brett.
He pulled this beauty from the South Fork of the Boise River.

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One simple rule of fly casting is that where the rod tip goes the fly line follows. Seems blaringly apparent right? But it really helps when you understand this principle and practice with it in mind. Good casters throw tight efficient loops by making the rod tip travel back and forward in a straight line. Consequently, the line travels back and forward in a straight line.

Several of the most common errors in casting disrupt the straight rod tip path. These can be but are not limited to over or under powering the cast for the amount of line, tracking errors that cause the rod tip to deviate side ways, not applying power to the cast smoothly causing shock waves, or arching the rod tip path by allowing too much wrist rotation.

Practice making the rod tip travel in a straight line on the back and forward casts and you should be happy with the results at the end of the line.

As I’ve mentioned before, Fall trout fishing can be some of the best fishing of the year. Water begins to drop to ideal temperatures and really triggers trout feeding. I like to focus my fall fishing to locations with water temperatures between 48 and about 58 degrees farenheit. Any colder and fish seem to start to really slow down and if it’s still warmer than this they will not usually be quite as active yet. These temps seem to be ideal for both river and stream fishing for most trout.

You can adjust this temperature range a bit for different species. Ideal temperature zones are probably about 5 degrees cooler for lake trout, dollies, and char, 3 degrees cooler for brook trout, and maybe a few degrees warmer for browns. Take a thermometer along and find water that fits in these zones and most likely fish will respond well. Hatches, spawning behaviors, and several other factors will still affect trout behavior but starting in the right temperature zones should put you on the right track.

This week’s picture is brought to you by Gary.
A beautiful rainbow taken from the Bighorn below Three Mile access. That’s me on the right, and my guide Matt on the left. We were fishing a two fly rig with an San Juan Worm and a Sow Bug. This beauty hit the worm.

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Some of the very best trout streamers were actually designed to be fished in the salt. Don’t be afraid to try Clouser Minnows, Deceivers, and other salt water streamers for big carnivorous trout, especially browns. Some of my favorite Clouser colors are black, olive/white, brown/green, and golden shiner. Deceivers seem to work well in black, cockroach, and yellow/green.

This week’s picture is brought to you by Jerry.
Jerry managed to fool a picky fish with a PMD Comparadun. Sweet catch!

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This week’s picture is brought to you by Jay.
Here’s what Jay had to say, “The Weisse Traun is one of my favourite streams in southern Germany in the Bavaria region. The water is so clear, it almost looks like the fish are floating in air…”. Catch more about Jay’s trip at Jay’s blog.

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