3 easy ways to get your fly down deeper (where the big ones are!)

BONUS TIP: HANG UPS

So, how do you know when you’re fishing deep enough? It’s simple: When you start hanging up. If it’s every few casts, you’ve got too much weight on. But if you’re hooking bottom every eight or 10 casts, you’re in the zone. I learned this from the late Scottish-Canadian guide and author Ian Colin James, who was a master river angler, and it’s never failed me. Breaking off is annoying, but trout flies are cheap. And, as James loved to point out, “They’re not your little buddies.” People often wax poetic about the meditative nature of fly fishing, which I’ve never quite bought into. But fishing deep does have sort of a Zen quality—in order to be successful with a fly, you’ve got to be willing to lose the fly.