Hey everyone,
How many of you fish in the winter? I’m guessing quite a bit. My questions are about line and tippet. Do they get too cold and break? Do you need special mono or fly line for it? It gets pretty cold here in Canada, and I don’t wanna freak up the line and break it:) Any special care needed for rods FF in the winter?
Thanks a lot,
Shane
Great stuff in those links provided by DG!
Shane:
I fish all year long and winter is one of my favorite times due to my cold blooded nature ;). There is nothing like the beauty of a wild trout to break the bleakness of the season.
I use the same tackle as I do in the summer with no ill effects. The only thing that can drive me nuts besides ice on the guides is line coils. If you don’t already use a cold water or really limp brand of fly line you may want to consider one. IF you are planning to trout fish; I recommend the Rio Selective Trout, Sci Anglers Trout or XPS. All three are extremely limp lines and work great in the winter cold.
Have fun!
Shane -
Can’t add anything to what Dennis and Bob wrote in the links provided by Dennis.
Man, that is GOOD stuff, Dennis. And Bob pretty much nailed the nymph fishing part of it.
I fish all winter, usually the South Fork of the Snake, any given day that the temps are in the mid 20’s or higher and there is no appreciable wind. Used to have a back up rod, but I sent it off to a friend so I’ll be using my primary rod or building a winter nymphing rod for the coming winter season ??
It’s really all a matter of how you deal with the cold. Follow DG’s recommendations and you’ll do just fine. Your line will take something of a beating compared to fair weather fishing, and conditions will make it harder on the other equipment. But that Scott 5 wt is experienced at cold weather fishing, except for the new tip, so don’t sweat it.
John
Hey Shane, the winters down here are nowhere near as cold as most parts of the States but mornings on the Tongariro often result in the fly line being frozen in the rod rings. I simly dip the rod in the river to defrost it as the water temp is higher than the air temp. As for gear I mostly use Rio Grand lines and flourocarbon leaders and do not have any trouble.
I think most lines I have tried are O.K. in the cold but I would not use the same lines in the tropics as I think they would not be good.
Any warm water fishers care to coment?
All the best.
Mike.
I fish year round also, but man Canada…it gets cold up there don’t it?
If my guides are icing up on every other cast, I go home. My Brother broke the tip of his rod because the tip iced up.
I like ST II line, it is soft in any weather, but keep in mind that ice is not line friendly. I have had ice cut into my lines.
But it is the BEST time to be fishing to me. No people!
Shane,
Yep, I love winter fishing since so many people don?t. You hardly ever see anyone else out there and nymph fishing is great year round. You just have to have your nymphs at the right depth, on the bottom, and simply work each seam or ledge really well, the fly has to come really close to them for the trout to hit. Iced lines and ice clogged guides are the norm, and not much you can do about them.
However, I see you live in SW Ontario. That really restricts your winter fishing. Most of the rivers will be frozen over up there as are many of the lakes. That makes for poor fly fishing. It also makes for a great time to tie flies.
Larry 
—sagefisher—
You’ll get a few good chances for winter fishing out there… Look to some of the Great Lake Steelheading websites for info, but you’re in a pretty good area (I lived in Guelph and fished year round).
It will be frustrating because all your line out of the water will freeze, and if you strip line in, the water will freeze in your guides.
You can use an ice-off paste to keep ice free, but you have to keep reapplying it, as the line will rub it off and add water to freeze.
I found that the SA nymph line worked well and stayed supple. Warm water lines will get too stiff and retain their coiled memory.
A Clean line is very important.
Nymphing (like mentioned) is just about the only option, although a slowly retrieve streamer works also.
If you can, stay on shore (ice is deadly). Waders are okay for staying warm, but you’ll need to layer… And NO felts in the snow… you’ll just build up ice under your feet.
Oh, and if you are wading… watch out for ice flows.
My wife took this shot of me as I drifted down the Grand a few years ago.
I was lucky because I had drifted to a shallow area near an Island.
Thanks for all the replies. Those links pretty much summed it up. I’m not doing any fishing come winter:) It gets in the -20’s almost all winter here. With the exception to last winter. Only a few days were in the -30’s, and most the time was in the -teens. But, if it’s harder on the gear I’m not doing it. I’m hard enough on gear as it is lol.
Looks like I’ll be doing a lot of tying hahaha.
John. The Scott may be well seasoned for winter, but I don’t wanna stress it out. It’s experienced, I’m not lol 
Thanks again my friend!
I figured winter would be rough on gear. but I’ve seen so many people fishing. Fly, ice etc. Doesn’t matter, people fish:) So I thought I’d toss it out there and find out.
Much appreciated everyone!
Shane
Pick a spring fed river…less ice
Keep the ice out of your guides…
Dont get hypothermia…
Dont dunk your reel when its cold enough to freeze solid…
Good Luck.
You’ll be fine for fishing in the winter around London.
You can fish Bass till the end of Nov, sunfish are open all year. While warm water species will be a little sluggish, there is opportunity to fish coldwater species. It is above freezing till December, especially on sunny afternoons, and it warms up in March.
There are many rivers (Lake Ont and Erie tribs)open till Dec 31… you’ll get steelhead though.
The Niagara is open for big fish, but you’ll need a big rod and sinking gear.
And its not that hard on gear to fish in the winter, and it is nice to get out.
If there is a nice day (and there are lots in SW Ontario over the winter)… take the rod and go.
At the worst you drive to a creek that remains open throughout the winter, you feel to cold to fish, you buy a coffee for you and your wife and head home.
I fished year round from Wasaga Beach down to Niagara Falls… only in late Jan and Feb were there times when it was too cold to do anything but tie flies. Your biggest hickup will be finding waters where you’re allowed to fish in the winter.
Hey Otto,
MI is a lot like sw Ontario in the winter. We have a lot of open water all through the winter.
We started fishing the Pere Marquette River in Michigan for steel head in winter many years ago. We would fish it all fall and winter into spring for the silver devils. River looks like this in the winter. Many wonderful memories.
You can read the whole account on the link below. Be careful, it’s big. Don’t try it over a phone line.
http://www.hatofmichigan.org/uploads/TyingFlies_ebook.pdf
Godspeed,
Bob
I fish all winter. If I start developing a lot of ice in my guides I quit. That really annoys me. It’s a great time to fish. I love fishing during a light snow fall.
Shane, I fish all winter along Lake Erie. As long as the rivers have some open water for steelheading I fish it. I haven’t broken a tip or pulled off a guide yet, but they do ice up. I use chapstick on the guides, I really glob it on straight from the tube BEFORE I start fishing. Once you get it wet forget the chapstick unless you dry your guides off again. I am also very careful to wade as close as possible to the fish in order to shorten the amount of line I have out, and many times I am able to cast quite a while before drawing the wet line into the guides except of course if I get a fish on. Allowing the ice to build up too much while you are fishing really wears out a flyline in a hurry. I usually try to dress the line at least once a day and at the end of the day. Remember to take your rod out of the case and your reel also to get them to thaw out and dry out before storing them.
I think that fishing in freezing weather is very hard on breathable waders because of the ice crystals that form in the seams and the fabric itself, so I usually only get two season out of a pair before they start getting a lot of leaks. I have been trying a pair of Simms G3 since last fall, and so far so good. All of my winter wading gear is oversize to allow for extra fleece and socks without being tight feeling, this goes for wading shoes also, mine are two sizes larger to accommodate two pairs of wool socks. We also use those hated plastic grocery bags over our feet, you wouldn’t believe how easy it is to take off your waders at the end of the day. Using those bags you just have to shake your waders off and they slip right off.
Also a good tip to keep your hands warmer is to use a good hand lotion, work it in well before you start fishing, to keep your hands from drying out from the cold. That also goes for your face as well. I don’t know why this works but it does. I usually don’t wear gloves until I get my hands wet, and then if I can’t get them dried I use wool fingerless gloves. I carry a towel in my backpack to dry my hands after releasing a fish. I also use it to dry my flyrod if the blank itself is icing up a lot.
Those little chemical handwarmers are nice, I use the ones for your body, and in extreme cold I put one on my shoulders just below my neck on top of a heavy polypropolene tee shirt. I would also add that if you have a long hike in to where you are going to start fishing, do not overdress for the walk in, carry most of your jackets/fleece, in a backpack and put them on later. Sweating is a sure ticket to being cold.
These are a few tips that have helped me fish in extreme cold. The coldest was a few years ago at NY Salmon river in January, 15 F degrees below 0, that’s -26 C, I won’t do THAT again. Under those conditions you were very careful not get anything wet that didn’t absolutely have to. We did catch fish but I don’t recommend lifting the fish out of the water anymore because I think exposing a fish to those kinds of air temperatures could cause freeze injury very easily. So for us, no pictures when it gets that cold. Usually it is the river condition that keeps us home, not the weather.
Good luck this winter
Glenn
I don’t mind fishing in the cold. I often fish when it is in the 20s. But most of the streams freeze solid here, so once we get ice up here in October or November, there isn’t any fly fishing again until ice out in May or so.
The exception is where Kenai Lake dumps into the Kenai River. Many people fish that section year round. So far I haven’t done that because of the 100 mile drive down there through the mountains. I made that drive one Easter years ago to attend a family gathering in Kasilof. Haven’t made that trip in the winter since.
I spend a lot of time flyfishing in the winter. Snowstorms are a blast to fish in, like a rainstorm without getting very wet. It’s all about dressing for the conditions to stay in the water, the fish are there and willing to be caught.
It’s really cool to fish over rising trout when there is snow on the ground.
I’d love to fish in the winter. Especially since all these tips are helpful and make it easier to do so. The only thing that’ll keep me from doing it is, well making the drive to the water to do it. I just can’t drive that far alone unfortunately:(
Tigfly, thanks a lot for all those helpful tips and information. If I manage to get out and do some fishing sometime it’ll sure help out a lot.
Well, I guess once the water starts to freeze I’ll be indoors for the winter lol. This season anyways:)
Thanks again,
Shane