Winter Trout Tactics
Like a military re-enlistment or a second marriage, winter fly fishing in a freestone stream marks another triumph of hope over experience. At least that’s the conventional wisdom.
Tailwaters and limestoners provide regular flows at moderate water temperatures and thus draw lots of winter anglers. Fly fishers working these streams endure more misery from the elements than the trout they seek. In terms of ratios, regular streams are far more numerous, and in states that provide year-round angling opportunities, most fly fishing takes place in freestoners.
Trout feed throughout the winter regardless of stream type, but success in a freestone creek requires more than luck. Mid morning to early afternoon is the magic window, so sleep late and get in long before supper. Only a prolonged thaw will lengthen your fishing time, but a day or two of steadily moderating temperatures or even a single sunny afternoon with air temps in the 40s can really get things moving.
Most of the action will be subsurface, so carry a variety of nymphs, wets, and midge imitations. However, I’ve seen trout surface feeding from December through March, so it’s a good idea to pack some #18 to #24 CDC or rabbit-foot emerger patterns. Few things beat hooking a trout working the top on a mild midwinter day.
Finding Trout
A famous Ozark Mountain recipe for squirrel stew starts with a simple instruction: First, get the squirrel. In winter fly fishing the first rule is to find the trout. Some spots hold trout all year, but just as summer fish seek relief from heat by migrating into colder tributaries and headwaters, winter trout reverse the process and go to spots where water temperatures are highest and current speeds are more suitable to their slower metabolism. Don’t be surprised if a sure-thing summer hole is completely devoid of trout in winter.
Bridge holes are a good bet because during a thaw, steady sunlight warms the concrete supports and gets trout feeding, if only for an hour or two each day. Be there at peak time and you may be pleasantly surprised. It sure knows how to get cold in New York’s Finger Lakes region, but I’ve caught trout as early as the first week in January by drifting small drys and emergers within inches of a concrete bridge support. You’ll likely catch more fish by dead-drifting nymphs in the same place, but surface action is not out of the question.
Ruffed grouse can sometimes provide clues as to the whereabouts of winter trout. In seeking protection from the elements, the birds often select spots where heavy pine cover reduces wind chill and seeps of spring water rise from the ground. Note the places where you flush grouse regularly, and carefully work any holes or holding areas just downstream of the flushing zones. Even a slight change in temperature produced by an infusion of spring water can draw fish to such spots. (Remember to carry and use a thermometer!)
Another productive tactic is to walk or cross-country ski on the coldest days when fishing is impossible. Any stream water still open is likely to mark a spot where subsurface spring water is mixing in, and trout will likely be nearby winter or summer. Carry a pair of binoculars, especially if the terrain is open enough to allow you to search without having to trudge through snow. Binoculars also allow you to scan from a safe distance for trout that may be working the surface of a spring seep. Winter trout feeding on top are subtle, hard to spot, and easily spooked. Seeing them from afar allows you to plot an approach strategy. (Putting a pair of clip-on polarized lenses in front of the binocular lenses can really cut glare, especially when sun and snow combine to make seeing even more difficult.)
Techniques
Cold-water trout tend to bunch up. Approach a spot as quietly as possible, fish carefully for 15 to 20 minutes, and move on if nothing happens. However enticing a spot may look, if your drifts are coming up empty, chances are you’re working empty water and wasting precious time.
Winter nymphing is a game of straight lines. Divide the pool before you into imaginary parking-lot lines. Your nymph, indicator, leader, and line must land straight and remain within an imaginary line. The easiest way to do that is to forget conventional casting. Let the current pull the line taut behind you and then combine a lob and a short haul to deliver the nymph. With a little practice your loop will be just the right size and everything will land in a straight line. Winter trout will not take a nymph more than a head-turn away. That’s why you must work every parking-lot line carefully and methodically. Just when you’re beginning to feel a little foolish, the indicator will pause or dip, and the rod will come alive. Then you’ll understand that casts only inches apart in the same drift line can make all the difference. Take advantage of clues such as foam and debris floating on the surface. Fish carefully wherever such debris slows, concentrates, or stops. Currents near the bottom move only about a third as fast as those on top, and knowing that should help you locate more trout.
Once you hook a fish or get a strike, stop. Don’t be in a rush to get to “better” water; you’re already standing in it. Odds are that a dozen or more trout are somewhere in the same area. On one winter trip, I hooked and released 27 browns and rainbows from two pools only 30 feet apart. The next half-mile upstream from those pools produced no fish.
Try to work a hooked fish back to you quickly and release it pointing downstream. If a trout makes a real fuss or bolts upstream for any distance, rest the water long enough to enjoy some soup or coffee from a Thermos. In your fishing journal, be sure to record the place and time of every hookup. Chances are excellent that you’ll catch trout in that same spot year after year. Once you compile a list of old reliables, your winter fly-fishing success should improve dramatically.
Productive days come to those who fish winter streams carefully. Do whatever you can to avoid crunching or collapsing the thin layer of ice lining the shore. Such noise carries a long way and alerts trout to your presence.
If the sun is out, stay back from the bank, especially if you’re seeing “soot flies,” the little stoneflies that look like wood ashes come alive. Even a pale winter sun can get their hatch activity going. Never splash through the shallows of a deep hole, especially on a sunny day. Large trout sometimes hold in the sun-warmed shallows in water barely deep enough to cover their dorsals. They’re not just there to keep warm. They’re hunting the small dark stoneflies scuttling out of the creek.
Move onto the bank and circle around to put yourself in proper position, paying special heed to avoid casting shadows. Using a sidearm casting stroke, swing small (#16-20) subtle soft hackles such as the Starling and Herl across the shallow tails where the sunlight has warmed things up. Swing the flies from the center of the creek to the shallows, and not vice versa, and let the stonefly imitations get close to shore before picking up for another cast. I’ve seen trout push bow waves as they chased these “snow fleas” right up to the shoreline.
If the tailouts and midsections prove unproductive, move slowly toward the head of the pool where the riffle enters. You’ll do better here with a meat-and-potatoes offering like a #6-10 Casual Dress, CK Nymph, or a large hellgrammite pattern.
Copyright © 2012 Intermedia Outdoors
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