As a new fly fisherman, I’m not sure to do with myself right now, as I see rain and snow-swollen rivers become unfishable, dawns that come too late and nights that come too early, and temperatures just getting too cold to really invest too much time out there.
So … my question is really pointed to all my fellow Central Appalachia fly fishermen. What to do now? Anybody got any tips about what works for them during the late fall, early winter, fly-wise and otherwise?
Any tips that would give me an excuse to get out there would be greatly appreciated.
Rcassady, tye flies, read (books, magazines, on-line), make plans with maps etc, chat with friends, face cabin fever (a.k.a. the shack nasties) and know it for what it is. Or buy fly angler appropriate winter gear and get back into the water.
Remember the mantra of the fly angler in winter: “I do NOT need to switch to decaf, thank-you-very-much!”
Warm regards,
Ed
If we get three days of rising temperatures check the mountain stream levels. If levels are not too high or too low and it isn’t raining or snoweing then go fishing for brook trout. I use a Griffith Gnat or Mr. Rapidan nymphs and emergers.
Don’t let winter keep you indoors.
John
Same issue here, but perhaps a little worse. In NH, rivers and streams close to all fishing on October 15th and don’t re-open until January 1st. I’ve been having serious withdrawal, but have spent the time so far reading and planning out what I’ll be tying for next year.
I’m also reading up on winter fly fishing so I can hit the rivers in the next month or two. Damn the cold! I already have a kid so freezing my man parts means little. 
What about lakes near you Rcassady? I mean for me when the rivers are blown and lately mostly frozen and if i was going crazy wanting to cast a line then i head up to the nearby lake and i could care less if i catch anything but sometimes i do. Just the fact that i leave the house, drive to the lake, see the water and cast for a while is good enough for the moment.
And, if you can do that, you might try big unweighted leech patterns first on a rod length tapered leader, cast as far out into the lake as you can, then give it a countdown of say 25 for starters, then make slow strips back towards you with the rod tip quite low to the surface of the water and be ready. After that you could try a 10 or 12 foot sink tip with a 5 ft leader and the same unweighted leech pattern and give that a count appropriate for the depth of where you’re flyfishing and strip that back.
Also with both ways, you can try different stripping methods i.e. slow, erratic, fast or even combinations. Again, be ready as one never knows what crazy starving fish of any kind will do next.
Lastly, if nothing else, you will have ‘gotten out there’ and enjoyed some fresh air and gotten in your casting practice especially with longer casts plus you’ll sleep like a baby that night.
Cheers,
MontanaMoose
I just looked at the next few days’ weather. It’s going to be 61 … on Monday! ACK! I’m going to have to figure a way to finance this fishing thing without a job.
But seriously, I appreciate the advice so far. I really like the leech idea. I have a lake less than 10 minutes from the house, full of bass, and they’ve probably not seen any artificial for at least a couple of weeks.
The other thing I was wondering about with all this time on my hands was crappie. What kind of gear would work best for them.
If it is not frozen solid, go fishing! Even if the pools on your stream have ice on them the riffles should still be open. I was still catching some good bluegills as late as last week here in Indiana. That is over now that the cold weather set in.
fishbum
If you can luck upon a day where the conditions are favorable…go fishin’!!!
BobbyG
A place you might look for fish in a lake is if you can find an unfrozen area with a steep drop off & some sort of structure such as rip rap or a sunken tree & then fish it with a good sinking pattern such as a clouser minnow. My best luck for late fall crappies came in just such a place. I fished the fly just above the bottom & used a hand twist retrieve. I watched the line carefully as the hits were usually pretty light. When the line tighten up a bit, the tip of the rod bent a bit or something else happened I set the hook & usually was rewarded with a crappie. They weren’t big but they were FISH.
Good luck with you winter fishing!
So I take a gulp of my Pepsi as I read and scroll down, then DUDLEY’S thousand words comes into view :lol::lol::lol:
Rcassady try fly tying then every day becomes perfect to enjoy this hobby / sport.
Try some Egg Fly patterns–globugs, loop clusters, etc. The Brownies are still, or recently completed, spawning and the trout are accustomed to feeding on them in late fall. Brookies are also late fall, early winter spawners.
Good luck
Max
<clapping Rcassady on back>
Welcome aboard, Laddie! I can see that you’re one of us!
(BTW, if you come up with a viable answer, please send it to me PM…)
Ed
I’m with Ed, if you figure it out let us know! PLEASE!!!
hNt
Just looked at the 10-day forecast for my area. Not only is tomorrow going to be the first day we’re going to break freezing in more than a week, but after a few dry days (enough to get the snow runoff over with), Saturday’s supposed to be 51 degrees.
Not only will I be glad to get out, but I’d imagine both the smallies and rainbows in my favorite river will be glad to finally emerge as well, if only temporarily. At any rate, the only problem I’m having is figuring out how to explain to my wife that it’s highly unlikely I’ll be home during daylight hours Saturday.
:lol:
I’m just praying the weather holds out, and, at this point, not even sure I care what it’s like out there.
Also, I’m ordering my fly tying kit in a couple of weeks, so when the weather turns sour again, I’ll be ready to go. God knows I’ve already exhausted the Woodford Reserve supply.
Ah, Woodford Reserve. Good stuff, a little sweet, but good stuff. It tastes like a wheat whiskey instead of a rye bourbon, but still very good. Not that I would know, you understand…
Ed
Certainly. I can’t imagine anyone on here taking a nip now and then. By the way, Ed. I noticed you’re from Nashville. Ever fish the South Holston? I’ve been doing some reading and have been contemplating possibly taking a trip down there sometime this year (I live just a couple of hours away). Is it worth the trouble?
Finally got out on my home river Saturday morning. No luck, a few VERY sluggish bites, but went home without catching a fish. Got some good casting practice and some time outdoors, so I can’t complain at all.
It was nice out there, although I couldn’t drive to my favorite spot, thanks to a massive tree felled by a snowstorm last month.
Also, I’m posting a photo of some footprints I found on the beach where I was fishing. I definitely wasn’t out there alone, and I’m thinking maybe it was a beaver, but I’m not 100% positive of what was out there with me.
And the water was perfect, if a little too cold for my taste.
Can’t wait for it to warm up some, but I’m getting my fly tying equipment early next month, so I’ll have something to do to prepare for the season.
I’ve only been fly fishing since October or so, and while the first two days were pretty pleasant (wading in Missouri streams around Steelville with a friend), the last 5 times have been cold. So far, I can’t cast very well, though an OK cast happens from time to time, and I’ve caught two fish (smallmouth and carp).
The thing that struck me was that I became very acclimated to the cold since we had a good month of 10-20 degree weather, more or less. Then, when we had some days in the low 40s or high 30s I thought, “this will feel like summer!”.
We have a bunch urban trout lakes in St. Louis that are sticked every year, and they are catch and release only (I think also no live bait) in January. Bass and other fish may also be present. So, I went into Forest Park (of World’s Fair fame) to practice casting at Jefferson Lake, and maybe catch a fish.
I consistently under-dressed the first three times out, however. The “warmer” temperatures came with increased dampness, and it felt colder than 20 degrees had. I do have plenty of cold weather gear, not necessarily fishing-specific, but it does little good sitting in a closet at home. I think I was more exposed to wind than I had expected, also. Since I go running by there every Sunday, why any of this took me by surprise is a mystery- of course I generate a bit more heat running than fishing, and thought I was accounting for this. Not so.
I tried fishing off the bottom of the lake with a full-sinking 5 wt line; one of the other two on the lake was having success off the bottom with some kind of spin-casting setup and a lure that I never saw. I had two good strikes on a woolly bugger, but couldn’t hook anything. The strikes only came with fairly fast stripping. I did get hooked in the hand by another fly fisher- he was quite good, but a gust of wind surprised him- lucky I had the gloves on. He then caught some small trout with a nymph/indicator setup while I was skunked.
Well, possibly as a reward for reading this post that doesn’t say much, I’m including two photos from my Flickr acct from fly fishing Rose Canyon Lake on Dec 29. The lake was beautiful, up at around 8,500 ft in the Santa Catalina Mountains, north of Tucson (a short drive). My brother-in-law, fly fisherman since childhood, caught a number of trout. It was about 20 degrees, ignoring wind chill. We went twice and one day the gusts were 40-60 mph (really, as in this isn’t a fish story: gusts were blowing cars off the highway down in the valley (tragically), but the wind didn’t start until we were up the mountain and had hiked the two miles through the snow to the lake. No way were we leaving…). We stopped at a scenic lookout on the way down and were pelted with a continuous hail of small granite pebbles. On that first day, when the wind was high, my hands were cold enough that I threw a bunch of flies straight into the lake before I relaxed and focused more on the knots.
What I had never seen before was a spider in the snow (pic 2). This was as cool to see as the wild turkey, deer, bobcat (!, that was a first), and hawks (I never tire of watching them, or any of the animals). I wonder if this would be a good winter fly pattern?
My Flickr acct has more photos of the Arizona fishing in December (and hiking, etc., and also pics of Maine, like my icon).
Today, back in St. Louis, I’m just tying knots and reading up on salt water techniques. My local shop’s casting lesson was canceled yesterday due to illness, so I hope all is well there soon. I need that lesson ASAP!
Best wishes.
I refer to “my icon” above. Hmm, that’s on another, relatively local, fishing site… 51 and losing it already.