Tricks for Casting Big Flies, with Pete Kutzer

The Orvis Fly-Fishing Podcast

There's no doubt that casting a size 6 weighted streamer is more difficult than a size 14 Parachute Adams. The physics are different, no way around it. But casting guru Pete Kutzer [37:17] has some tricks that he shares to make casting big streamers, nymph rigs, and poppers easier by adjusting your casting motions. This is a frequent question on the Fly Box so I figured there was a need for an entire podcast on the subject. In the Fly Box this week, surprisingly I did not have any questions on casting big flies. But I did have these tips and questions:

• I have been looking for brown trout redds on my favorite wild trout stream but have not seen any. When and where do they spawn?
• Does it make sense to look at my dry flies from underneath, getting the same view as the fish? I have discovered a way of projecting my flies on the ceiling to look at them.
• My fly line lands OK, but my leader and fly curl off to one side and don't go where I want them to. What am I doing wrong?
• Why do trout in my river prefer Golden Stonefly nymphs over the bigger Salmonfly patterns?
• How do I know where to place studs on my Orvis felt-soled wading boots?
• I fish dry droppers on small streams, but in really shallow streams my nymph keeps snagging on the bottom. Do you still fish dry /dropper on very shallow streams?
• What is a good foreign language to learn if you travel to fish internationally?
• Do trout in cold tailwaters migrate closer to the dam in summer?
• I fish a trout stream where the channel was recently put back into an old stream bed. How long will it take for insects and crayfish to repopulate this area?
• I kept missing strikes on a weedless Sneaky Pete. Do you think it was the weed guard, or was it just bluegills pecking at my fly?
• How do people get their car to the take-out when fishing from a raft?