Efficiently transitioning into the chilly season often means adapting your fly-fishing strategy. This doesn’t require an entire overhaul of your gear and techniques, however each season presents a brand new set of variables. Because the seasons change, trout water can appear to be a labyrinth — one that’s continuously morphing, usually making it really feel unimaginable to navigate. The trail that labored yesterday abruptly closes, forcing you to take one other route. However one of many issues that makes fly fishing so thrilling is how the identical physique of water is at all times altering. It’s like driving to work on daily basis and by no means having to take the identical route.
I don’t declare to have the definitive roadmap for navigating winter trout water, however I can present some suggestions that can be useful for freshmen seeking to fly fish for trout through the winter season. This recommendation is borne of three a long time of expertise fishing winter creeks, streams and rivers, principally these of central Pennsylvania. There can be exceptions to every of the following pointers as you progress from area to area, however fly fishing within the winter for over 30 years has offered me with some reliable pointers to plan a day of fishing within the chilly.
Winter has a shorter chunk window
What’s a chunk window? It’s a standard time period used to explain the time interval on a given day throughout which trout are actively feeding. Generally, it looks as if each fish within the system is feeding with reckless abandon. Different instances, you’re fortunate to seek out even a couple of fish keen to chunk. Through the coldest days and weeks of the 12 months, I’ve discovered it doesn’t pay to be on the water at daylight.
Usually, late morning by early afternoon gives higher alternatives for concentrating on feeding fish. The colder the evening earlier than, the longer it takes for the water to heat as much as activate feeding conduct. This isn’t to say that you simply gained’t ever discover a hungry trout at dawn throughout a polar vortex, however your odds of success will enhance considerably for those who give attention to a 2–3-hour window late within the day. With temperatures at their warmest, you’ll additionally endure much less.
Apart from spring creeks and tailwaters
It’s necessary to notice that the above bit about chunk home windows applies to freestone streams, the place water temperatures can fluctuate considerably between evening, morning, afternoon and on into the night. On tailwaters (rivers downstream of a dam) or spring creeks, the place water temperatures fluctuate a lot much less (typically little greater than a level or two throughout all the day), then chunk home windows can happen early within the morning or at virtually another time of the day — even through the coldest elements of the winter season. In reality, a few of the finest evening fishing I’ve ever skilled occurred on an Arkansas tailwater in January when air temperatures had been near 10 levels. Regardless of the frigid air temperatures, the dam-released water from the underside of the reservoir had been greater than heat sufficient for the trout to actively feed.
Fish slower and/or deeper water
Trout will slide into slower or deeper waters as water temperatures drop. Whereas just lately fishing a favourite freestone stream, 95 p.c of the fish I’ve caught have been in water at the very least 20 inches deep and with a sluggish to average move. In the meantime, I’ve struggled to seek out trout in a few of my favourite pocket water and shallow riffles that are my finest producing waters throughout different instances of the 12 months.
My favourite varieties of water to focus on through the winter are usually the transitional spots inside swimming pools and runs. I’ll actually catch fish fishing the deepest and slowest sections of the stream as effectively, however most of my current success has occurred in head of a run (the place shallow water transitions to deep), tailouts (the place deep transitions to shallow) and in transitional areas alongside the banks.
Photograph: George Daniel.
Sluggish your presentation, too
When nymphing through the winter months, I’ll usually use a drop shot rig, so I can slowly crawl my nymphs simply above stream backside with out the effort of continually hanging up. A drop shot rig is when your break up shot is positioned on the very backside of your tippet and your nymphs are connected above the break up shot utilizing droppers. The thought behind the rig is that as your break up shot crawls and bounces alongside the stream backside, your nymphs flutter within the present above. The drop shot strategy stalls your presentation and retains your flies within the strike zone for an extended time frame, which is typically important when trout are feeding sluggishly through the colder months.
As for streamers, I’ll use jigs on a mono rig to bounce my streamer sample slower and deeper. I’ll deal with the jig like a nymph: casting upstream, permitting the jig to settle close to the stream backside and slowly jigging the streamer deep within the water column. A brief up and down motion because the jig streamer travels downstream is all I wish to impart to the fly, as an excessive amount of pace or elevate might flip a sluggish fish away. Although I like casting and ripping streamers for aggressive trout, I’ve discovered a slower presentation with the mono jig strategy to be my most suitable choice through the chilly water months.
And sure, dry fly alternatives do exist through the winter season. Midges supply some wonderful floor feeding alternatives — usually when fishing slow-moving water throughout calm days. I’ll carry a dry fly chief (12-15’ 6X-7X) and a handful of midge dry flies anytime when water ranges are low with little to no wind within the forecast.
Photograph: George Daniel.
Chase the solar
When hitting the water through the winter months, search areas that, based mostly on the topography and geography of the realm you’re fishing, obtain solar earlier and longer. There’s a piece of a neighborhood spring creek I keep away from fishing till afternoon as a result of it runs by a slim canyon and is within the shade a lot of the morning. So, I’ll stroll above or under this part the place the canyon opens and receives extra daylight through the day as these areas are likely to fish higher throughout excessive chilly climate. I’ll do the alternative through the scorching days of summer time, after I’m looking for colder water.
When touring to new waters that don’t have a neighborhood fly store to seek the advice of, you’ll be able to have a look at the water on Google Earth to get an thought on what areas might heat the quickest.
