698 | Dry Fly Fishing Tips with Mark Raisler from Headhunters Fly Shop
Wet Fly Swing Fly Fishing Podcast
Dave Stewart
4.7 • 530 Ratings
🗓️ 27 December 2024
⏱️ 75 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
#698 Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/698
Presented By: Drifthook Fly Fishing, Heated Core
In this episode, we dive into the art of dry fly fishing with Mark Reisler, owner of Headhunters Fly Shop and a passionate angler with over 25 years of experience. You'll learn expert tips to improve your casting technique, discover Mark's go-to dry flies, and explore strategies to hook more fish on the surface this season.
Episode Chapters with Mark Raisler on Dry Fly Fishing Tips
1:11 - Mark discusses the December and Christmas season which highlights the popularity of trout spey fishing on the river. He further explained how the river is described as ideally suited for spey rods, with skagit lines, sink tips, and streamers (such as leeches and flashy patterns) being effective during the winter months.
4:21 - Mark recalls the changes that led him to steelhead fishing and how his father introduced him to it.
9:05 - The guest went into detail about how he came up with the fly shop idea back in the fall of 2008. Mark shared how he started as a shuttle driver, transitioned to running the kitchen, and eventually decided to become a fly fishing guide. He proudly shares how he and his partner just celebrated their 17th year into fly fishing business.
22:40 - Mark talked about how to become a great professional angler. He proudly shared that he has been practicing five times a week with a yarn rod to stay sharp in rowing and fundamentals, consistently following the same routine for 30 years.
33:35 - Mark then shared the variety of insects found in each season. He explained the importance of presenting the hatches and perfecting casting techniques.
34:38 - He further explained how the "Hail Mary" cast has a low success rate. Additionally, he went into detail about how an angler should approach rising fish and elaborated on the best techniques for using a fly and achieving a proper drift.
44:45 - Mark proudly shared how the river easily adapts to each season. He explained that the nature of the river makes it very easy for wading. He also shared that the best technique is to sneak up on fish slowly "like how to catch a deer".
50:39 - He then shared his insights on drifting and how to properly cast to the front side of the bell curve and the centerline. He offered advice on how he assesses the water and determines what needs to be done first before diving further into his technique.
Conclusion with Mark Raisler on Dry Fly Fishing Tip
In this session, Mark shared his journey and expertise in steelhead fishing, offering a wealth of knowledge for anglers of all levels. He emphasized the importance of consistent practice, maintaining a routine for 30 years to master rowing and fundamentals to dry fly fishing.
Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/698
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Imagine this. You are on a trout stream and see the largest brown trout you have ever seen rising to a dryfly. |
| 0:08.8 | What is the first thing you do? Would you choose a fly that's sitting high on the water or something a little more lower in the surface? |
| 0:15.9 | Would you first cast above the fish to the side or right on top of them? |
| 0:20.7 | Dryfly fishing can be challenging, but today we have a guest that has been hunting fish for over 25 years, and you're going to get his best tips, so you have more success. Fishing dries this season. This is the Wet Fly Swing podcast where I show you the best places to travel to for fly fishing, how to find the best resources and tools to prepare for that big trip and what you can do to give back to the fish species we all love. Hey, how's it going? I'm Dave, host of the wetfly swing podcast. I've been fly fishing since I was a little kid. I grew up around a little fly shop and have created one of the largest fly fishing podcast in this country. I've also interviewed more of the greatest fly anglers and shop owners than just about |
| 0:55.1 | anyone out there. Mark Reisler, headhunters fly shop owner and dryfly fanatic is going to help |
| 1:01.9 | us hook up with more fish on the surface this year. You're going to hear about his 10 minute per day |
| 1:08.1 | casting routine and why you should do this. |
| 1:12.2 | We're going to talk about the yarn rod. We're going to find out why he thinks most anglers are doing the Hill Mary cast and why you |
| 1:17.8 | should avoid this at all cost. |
| 1:20.1 | And you're going to get his top dry flies and some of these that you've never heard of before. |
| 1:25.2 | Plus, we're going to find out why a town of 50 people has three fly shops. Okay, let's get into it right now. Here we go. Mark Reiser from headhuntersflyshop.com. How you doing, Mark? I'm doing fantastic, Dave. Thanks for having me. Yeah, yeah, thanks for putting this together today. We're going to talk a little more into the Missouri. We've been focusing. I'm starting to think about getting back out. We drove through there this summer, didn't stop and fish anywhere in Montana because we were heading to Wisconsin, but we crossed a lot of famous rivers. And, you know, obviously the Missouri is kind of your back door there. So we're going to talk Missouri. We're going to talk, you know, dry fly fishing and all |
| 2:00.8 | that here today. But let's jump into how you got into it first, like fly fishing in the shop. |
| 2:06.3 | What's your first memory of fly fishing? Oh, shucks. You know, I grew up in a fly, fishing family, |
| 2:11.4 | outdoors family. So fly fishing as a young kid, I remember, the most success I had was when we were |
| 2:17.3 | trolling around in high Mountain Lakes and British Columbia, |
| 2:20.3 | with leadcore lines and trolling and getting them. |
| 2:22.6 | So that was my first really memory of fly fishing and some Yellowstone Lake stuff as a wee kid, you know, five, four and five years old. |
| 2:30.0 | I kind of my first recollections. |
| 2:32.2 | I know we had Fenwick glass rods. I remember that in |
| 2:36.0 | Fleger reels, Fluger, you know, medalist reels. That was my earliest memory, but I grew up in |
| 2:41.5 | kind of an outdoors family in the Skagit Valley of Mount Vernon, Washington is where I'm originally |
| 2:46.2 | from. So I was ushered in, I guess, by, you know, as many children are by force. |
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