"Get Off The Couch This WInter and Catch More Trout"
Don't just sit around this winter...Instead use this opportunity to get out and fish while there's fewer people on the water!
Richard Alden Bean is a great outdoors writer and fly fisherman. I came accross this article in my local Game and Fish Magazine and thought I'd share it with ya'll.
Enjoy,
Michael
As winter trout fishing becomes more and more popular, flyfisherman are finding opportunities to catch fish in the coldest months of the year.
By Richard Alden Bean
Go look at the calendar if you must: It's late spring, early winter, depending on where you live, and things are really slow, especially if you're a flyfisherman.
Even your bait-fishing brethren are winding down on the winter trout fishing season, because in a few short weeks many of the lakes they've been fishing will be too warm to support trout, and by now bass anglers are flocking to low-elevation waters, looking for pre-spawn fish moving up from deep water.
As a fly-angler, you're looking forward to the warm days of spring to bring out the green in the hills and warm days that produce blizzards of hatching aquatic insects for trout to eat. But for many, late February and early March are a time for television reruns of outdoor TV shows interspersed with a bit of fly-tying and a fishing club meeting or two where they'll hear some guy talk about a place they won't be able to fish for weeks.
The weather outside is fitful. It may be blue skies and warming trends on Monday and cold, miserable rain on Wednesday or snow flurries on Friday. Many high-altitude lakes and streams are snowed in; some are frozen. Even worse, the low-elevation streams may already be seeing the first signs of the swell of spring run-off. It's enough to make a frustrated fly-angler want to take up bowling.
Hey, snap out of it! Winter can have some great fly-fishing.
We've all seen photos of an angler knee-deep in a stream with snowflakes whizzing by as he casts for trout. You can do that, too - but why would you?
We aren't talking about wading around in freezing streams in a blinding snowstorm. With just a bit of research, every angler with a particular interest, especially the trout enthusiast, can find great places to fish at any time of year.
First, let's take a look at the kind of fishing you will find. Compared to other regions in the country, we in the West are blessed with relatively mild winters. We get enough snow for skiing, and winter rain can be fierce, but there are winter days when air temperatures rise enough to require an angler to be in shirtsleeves by midmorning, and there are often hatches of caddis and mayflies in January.
Low-altitude waters, especially on the coastal side of the mountains, often have days that offer prime conditions well above freezing, if not quite spring-like, and conditions do nothing but improve with each passing week. So your first check should be in the regulations booklet: Check to find the waters you can legally fish now. There are some nearby, I promise!
Your next stop is at the local fly shop. Buy a handful of ties, tippets or whatever, and you'll find yourself the recipient of good hotspot information just for the asking. At this time of year you won't be fighting crowds."
To Read The Rest, Click Here:
Winter Trout Flies
Richard Alden Bean is a great outdoors writer and fly fisherman. I came accross this article in my local Game and Fish Magazine and thought I'd share it with ya'll.
Enjoy,
Michael
As winter trout fishing becomes more and more popular, flyfisherman are finding opportunities to catch fish in the coldest months of the year.
By Richard Alden Bean
Go look at the calendar if you must: It's late spring, early winter, depending on where you live, and things are really slow, especially if you're a flyfisherman.
Even your bait-fishing brethren are winding down on the winter trout fishing season, because in a few short weeks many of the lakes they've been fishing will be too warm to support trout, and by now bass anglers are flocking to low-elevation waters, looking for pre-spawn fish moving up from deep water.
As a fly-angler, you're looking forward to the warm days of spring to bring out the green in the hills and warm days that produce blizzards of hatching aquatic insects for trout to eat. But for many, late February and early March are a time for television reruns of outdoor TV shows interspersed with a bit of fly-tying and a fishing club meeting or two where they'll hear some guy talk about a place they won't be able to fish for weeks.
The weather outside is fitful. It may be blue skies and warming trends on Monday and cold, miserable rain on Wednesday or snow flurries on Friday. Many high-altitude lakes and streams are snowed in; some are frozen. Even worse, the low-elevation streams may already be seeing the first signs of the swell of spring run-off. It's enough to make a frustrated fly-angler want to take up bowling.
Hey, snap out of it! Winter can have some great fly-fishing.
We've all seen photos of an angler knee-deep in a stream with snowflakes whizzing by as he casts for trout. You can do that, too - but why would you?
We aren't talking about wading around in freezing streams in a blinding snowstorm. With just a bit of research, every angler with a particular interest, especially the trout enthusiast, can find great places to fish at any time of year.
First, let's take a look at the kind of fishing you will find. Compared to other regions in the country, we in the West are blessed with relatively mild winters. We get enough snow for skiing, and winter rain can be fierce, but there are winter days when air temperatures rise enough to require an angler to be in shirtsleeves by midmorning, and there are often hatches of caddis and mayflies in January.
Low-altitude waters, especially on the coastal side of the mountains, often have days that offer prime conditions well above freezing, if not quite spring-like, and conditions do nothing but improve with each passing week. So your first check should be in the regulations booklet: Check to find the waters you can legally fish now. There are some nearby, I promise!
Your next stop is at the local fly shop. Buy a handful of ties, tippets or whatever, and you'll find yourself the recipient of good hotspot information just for the asking. At this time of year you won't be fighting crowds."
To Read The Rest, Click Here:
Winter Trout Flies
posted by The "Duke" at 2:26 PM
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