With over 55 years of fly fishing under my wading belt this one of the best flyfishing instructional videos I have ever seen. Fantastic job on the explanation and demonstration of the casting techniques. Some tips for every flyfisherman out there, well done. I home you do more of this style of video. Good job to the coxswain of the boat.
Joe, this presentation was at a PhD level for hopper fishing. Each tip you gave was presented with clear and concise instructions and camera work. You obviously are a master of your craft. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much, we worked really hard on the tactical portion and had to somewhat ignore actually fishing and catching (hardest thing to do!). Really appreciate the nice words. Thank you and have a good day today!
it's so much fun to see a pro like this and realize you've been doing a lot of the right things already on your own local river, from your own drift boat. Some of the most fun I've ever had!
Awesome. I love hearing good feedback from experienced anglers. Sometimes its tough to balance content between "total newbie" to finding something helpful to share with "salty vets". Thanks for the nice words, keep it up!
I agree, this video, and every other video of yours I have watched, is simply outstanding. Many decades of saltwater fly fishing but new to the trout in streams game. I have learned so much from your fantastic teaching style; technical tips and the reason why that is so helpful…. you just make perfect sense. Here in Fla. I don’t live within 300 miles of a trout stream, but I’m hooked, and subscribed. Well done!
Very cool. I like the very straightforward information based on what nature does. We don't seem to have much of a hopper scene here on the Lower Sac. If someone from here disagrees I am all in to hear your take.
Thanks Dave, we've got a really cool river here. Great for anglers that like precise technical casting. Big water during the summer floods our bank habitat.
Agree with all the comments. You are a really good teacher. On a different note.. I like your minimal lanyard setup with some tippet and hemos. Where do you have the nippers? Thanks for what you do!!!
Great question, I could have gone into this and should have. Setting on the downstream side whenever possible is a good foundation. Also, trout love to swirl, short strike, and try to drown hopper sometimes before they eat them for whatever reason. Much like a cat plays with a mouse. Not sure that's the case, but you want to make sure the fish is actually taking the fly. Sometimes you'll have to wait for a 2nd approach before they eat. On larger hoppers the hooks can be fairly heavy wire, with a light rod sometimes you'll have trouble getting good hook penetration. That can be a problem as well if you are using say a 3-4 weight rod with large hoppers. Hope this helps!
What a spectacular teaching video, Joe (and Jacob?)! As the river comes down this week I"m guessing (hoping) it will be possible to wade instead of floating, casting towards the bank...correct?
Oh yes, water is down. That's my older son Jensen. They are both fishing fanatics. Lucky dad. Wading is awesome right now especially with the cooler days. Right now, colder is better. Good luck see you at Red's!
thanks for the video - do you ever throw a double rig on there with an ant trailing as your 2nd dry? i normally DON'T, but i was fishing the Mo in Montana this summer and my guide was pretty insistent on tossing a double. This frustrated me for a couple of reasons, 1) i couldnt really "twitch" the hopper as I like doing, as the ant became unnatural looking and just seemed "off". I was respectful and tried it out, but I later told him, hey i just want to fish a single hopper and let me twitch the F out of it, and low and behold, we got more takes!!!
That is an SA Competition WF5F line, it's a pretty basic dry fly line to be honest. I just started using it in video because of the bright orange color.
