How To Improve Your Fly Fishing Photography — Get the Trophy Shot

Tips and tricks to improve your trout photography – and keep fish safe in the process.

A particularly slippery rainbow. | Photo by Jasper Taback

Trout are escape artists – don't try to hold one like the guy in the cover photo. Yes, it’s me. Everybody makes mistakes. Here’s hoping you can learn from mine, with a few tips to make your trout photography pop and keep calamity from ensuing. 

Bring a Friend

This is the best way to improve your trout photography, bar none. Unfortunately, it’s not always possible – people have jobs and families and other responsibilities that get in the way of fly fishing, so sometimes you’ll be on your own. If you do have a buddy with you, they can be ready with the camera, and you can use both hands to hold your fish. 

Support, Don’t Squeeze

When you lift a trout, put one hand under its belly and one hand under its tail – keep your grip as gentle as possible, while making sure to keep the fish stable. Always wet your hands before lifting a trout – dry hands can remove the slime coat that trout have on their skin to protect from infection. 

Stay in the Water

As can be seen from the photo above, trout can be slippery. When a fish does wriggle out of your hands – it’s going to happen once in a while – it’s far better that it drops back into the water than onto rocks or dry land. It can be tempting to bring a fish onto the bank for a photo, but don’t do it. Pro tip: Secure your net between your knees, and hold the fish over it – if it falls, you’ve still got a second chance at a photo. 

This photo shows all the correct elements for handling a trout while photographing. It's supported, not squeezed. It's over a net in case the angler drops it. It's in or above water. | photo by Ken Baldwin

Limit Air Time

You’re not always going to get the perfect photo on the first try, and that’s alright. Take one, put the fish back in the water (in your net), and get set to try again. When you hold a fish out of the water for extended periods to try to get the best lighting and angles, that’s when you start to put it in harm’s way. 

Make Use of the Self-Timer

When I fish by myself, I usually opt for photographing trout in the net – it can turn out great, and it’s a whole lot easier than removing it from the water. But if you’re dead set on the grip and grin, your smartphone camera’s self-timer feature will be your best friend. Set your pack down on the bank, prop your phone up against it, and you’ve got yourself a makeshift cameraman. Go for the 10-second self-timer, as opposed to the 3-second – it always takes longer than you think to get a trout to cooperate for a photo. 

In-net photos aren't a bad option. | photo by Ken Baldwin

Safety First

At the end of the day, the health of the trout you caught is far more important than getting a great photo. If you played the fish for a long time, if the water temperature is on the warmer side, or if you’ve already spent a good bit unhooking your fly, just release it. There will always be another fish to model for your photos.