Listen online now! Tim starting talking about smallmouth secrets at 43:40
This week, my guest is Tim Landwehr [43:50], of Tight Lines Fly Fishing Company in De Pere, Wisconsin. Tim has decades of experience guiding for smallmouth bass and is co-author of a book on fly fishing for smallmouths. He shares some innovative and modern techniques for catching difficult smallmouths under all conditions, some you have probably never heard of or thought about.
In the Fly Box this week, we have some great questions, including:
When I am Euro nymphing, why do trout always take my fly on the swing, after it has finished its dead drift?
I have trouble seeing my beetle imitations on the water. What can I do?
Why did trout, after refusing countless dead drifts during a spinner fall, take my fly as I stripped it back to me?
If you had to fish nymphs that only imitated one order of insects, which one would it be?
If I simplify my nymph collection to more generic imitations, will I do as well as if I worry about imitating specific insects?
What is the difference between a Comparadun and a Sparkle Dun and which one is better?
If I have the same guide two days in a row, should I tip him or her both days?
How many indicators should I carry for a day of fishing?
Do you prefer the Helios 3 D or F model in a 9-foot, 5-weight rod?
A fly shop owner told me not to submerge my reel. Was he right?
What is the best way to store dry flies?
A listener gives another good reason to always tie or buy three flies of the same pattern
How can I eliminate wind knots in my dry dropper rig? What is the best way to fish in the surf?
About Tom
Tom Rosenbauer, host of the Orvis Fly Fishing Podcasts, has been with the Orvis Company over 30 years, and while there has been a fishing school instructor, copywriter, public relations director, merchandise manager, and was editor of The Orvis News for 10 years. He is currently Marketing Director for Orvis Rod and Tackle. As merchandise manager, web merchandiser, and catalog director, the titles under his direction have won numerous Gold Medals in the Annual Catalog Age Awards.
Tom has been a fly fisher for over 35 years, and was a commercial fly tier by age 14. He has fished extensively across North America and has also fished on Christmas Island, the Bahamas, in Kamchatka, and on the fabled English chalk streams. He is credited with bringing Bead-Head flies to North America, and is the inventor of the Big Eye hook, Magnetic Net Retriever, and tungsten beads for fly tying.
He has ten fly fishing books in print, including The Orvis Fly-Fishing Guide, Reading Trout Streams, Prospecting for Trout, Casting Illusions, Fly-Fishing in America, Approach and Presentation, Trout Foods and Their Imitations; Nymphing Techniques; Leaders, Knots, and Tippets, The Orvis Guide to Dry-Fly Techniques, and The Orvis Fly-Tying Guide, which won a 2001 National Outdoor Book Award. He has also been published in Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Catalog Age, Fly Fisherman, Gray’s Sporting Journal, Sporting Classics, Fly Rod & Reel, Audubon, and others. He lives in southern Vermont on the banks of his favorite trout stream.
Tom was Fly Rod & Reel magazine’s 2011 Angler of the Year! To quote the magazine: “People who meet him know this: Rosenbauer is as valid a fly fisherman as they come – honest, approachable, generous, dedicated, and enthusiastic. It’s that kind of enthusiasm and the written and verbal legacy he is providing that make Tom Rosenbauer Fly Rod & Reel’s 2011 Angler of the Year.”