The Fishful Thinker Podcast

You want to go trout fishing...but you don’t fly fish?

It's a common email for us: "I want to go trout fishing but I don't fly fish...what do I do?" The same question was common from folks visiting Colorado when I worked at Sportsman's Warehouse. Over the years we have worked with about every possible lure for trout and have developed a group of lure genres that consistently get bites. We'll discuss that as well rod, reel and line options in this episode. Please consider subscribing while you're listening...it's labor of love! 

Choosing a Fishing Rod Intelligently

Choosing a new fishing seems easy; just run down to your favorite tackle store and give one a wiggle, right? Well, not so much. Using specific design and material characteristics and matching them to your application will help you get the best rod for your needs. It will be more effective and more fun. If you have further questions on this or other topics, shoot me an email. Thanks for listening and please subscribe while you're here!    

The Art of the Angle...Casting Angles

The angle which you cast your lure or fly is often more important than the lure itself such the right lure doesn't get bit on the wrong angle or vice versa. Casting angles are something we try to focus on as a major part of of our pattern on any given day. It seems simple, but there are a lot of nuances to how angles affect your presentation and subsequent catching. We discuss all that in this episode. If you enjoy our educational content, please subscribe while you're here!  

Depth Control...Key to Catching!

"How deep were you fishing?" That's the magic question when evaluating other anglers' success or fishing reports. What they caught them on is not nearly as important as how deep they were fishing. But, and it's a big but, if you can't control your presentation in whatever the requisite depth range, is your catching will drop considerably. We'll discuss the various ways to establish control at any depth in this episode. Please subscribe while you're here and check out our YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram @FishfulThinker

Make The Fish Bite...

Getting fish to bite your offering is easy peasy...when they're actively feeding. But how do you get bites when they are not eating? The answer to that equation is by employing bite triggers. Bite triggers are ways to manipulate your lure or fly such that you peak their natural predatory response. Chad LaChance will talk all about our most common bite triggers in this episode of Fishful Thinker, The Podcast. Please subscribe while you're here! 

Drop Shotting...Not Just For Bass Anymore!

The venerable drop shot rig was invented in Japan and made popular in America by smallmouth bass derby anglers, but it is a very effective and efficient rig for lots of fish species and scenarios. In this podcast, host Chad LaChance details a range of applications for drop-shotting, including some fish you wouldn't likely think of for the simple rig. If you enjoy please subscribe and check out more of our content @FishfulThinker on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. Thanks for tuning in!  

Money-Saving Fishing Tips

These days with the cost of living, we're all looking for ways to save a few bucks in everything we do, including our fishing. So, in this episode we discuss ways we save some money in our guide biz as well as ways followers of the Fishful Thinker Facebook suggested they save money. No, it won't save you thousands, but these tips will increase your savings enough to matter...without reducing your catching! Please subscribe while you're here, and check out our YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, all @FishfulThinker.  

Fishing...Best Practices to Keep You Efficient

What do we mean by "best practices"? Things that you focus on to become habits so that your days on the water are more efficient, successful and less expensive. They are fundamental things, that when taken as a lot and made habitual, will make you a better angler in the long run. Some of these things I've observed over 17 years of guiding, some I've learned from other fishing guides, and some were things in my personal fishing I corrected. Regardless, I'm confident that if you pay attention to them, you'll catch more fish, have less frustration, and loose less tackle. If you enjoy or learn from our content, please subscribe while you're here, on our YouTube channel, Facebook or Instagram @FishfulThinker.  

The Water’s Falling...Now What?

We often joke that everyone's a hero in May fishing. Water levels are typically up, fish are on the banks, and life is good for bass and walleye anglers especially. But what do you do when you show up at your favorite reservoir and realize the water has now dropped a bunch? Suddenly those easy bank biters ain't so easy. And what if the lake drops all summer long as many of them do? How do you stay on fish then? Well, after almost 20 years of guiding on reservoirs that fluctuate 40-60 vertical feet per season, we've figured a few things out. Additionally, we've tested our theories on many western reservoirs over 14 years filming fishful Thinker TV. We'll talk through some it on this episode. Please consider subscribing to our podcast and YouTube channel if you learn from our efforts.  

Choosing Your Lure Colors

Lure color selection is not an exact science and no two anglers fully agree on color selections. Well, between multi-species angling my entire life, guiding for almost 20 years and tournament bass fishing for a decade, I've developed some patterns of color selection that help me stay consistent. More importantly, filming for Fishful Thinker TV always has us fishing "on the clock" at places I've never even seen before, so having a system for color selection speeds up the process. If you learn from or enjoy our podcast please subscribe and consider following along @FishfulThinker on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.