Fly Fishing In Winter

[JasonMcMillin]

Does anyone fly fish in winter? and if you do where do you fish?
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[flygoddess]

You Bet! Mostly Rivers, but occassionally find a warm water pond, then we go for it in the tubes.
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[StanWright]

Most fishing around here kind of slows down in the winter. It's 78 degrees right now and it's suppose to get all the way down to 72 tonight. I bet the water temperature is 75 or less. I'm staying indoors.
Aloha,
Stan[cool]
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[macfly55]

...well winter here in Southern California is either sunny.. or rain.. it has been getting down to 50 inland at night.. during the day.. well lets say if you want to go fishing.. you can.. []

.. MacFly [cool]
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[flygoddess]

[font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1]Post:[/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1]Most fishing around here kind of slows down in the winter. It's 78 degrees right now and it's suppose to get all the way down to 72 tonight. I bet the water temperature is 75 or less. I'm staying indoors.
Aloha,
Stan[cool]
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YOU SUCK![laugh][laugh] Seriously, I do like the snow. The fishing is great but you got to think TINY! PLUS, it looks like Utah is getting the water we need...don't know how Idaho is doing...I do think they need it more than we do, but heay, we'll take it!
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[Dryrod]

[shocked][font "Pristina"][green][size 4]Whoa - this morning it was 37º. I would say that is unusually cool for SoCal.[/size][/green][/font]
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[macfly55]

...[]I didnt go outside until 7:00 am .. AFTER the sun was up.. lol.. not sure what the temperature was but it was not that low... []

MacFly [cool]
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[Scruffy_Fly]

I used to fly fish in the winter but I am not sure whether or not I will do any this winter.

Plan to tie some flies anyways.

Do you fish in the winter? Do you go by yourself?
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[Dryrod]

[font "Pristina"][green][size 4][cool]20 years ago I would go fly fishing while it was snowing. Wore insulated hip waders & a thermo jacket etc.[shocked] Don't think that I would be up to that task today.[/size][/green][/font]
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[macfly55]

..twenty years ago I was stationed in northern Honshu.. where the winters were filled with snow and clear air.. but I loved every second of it.. but will be honest and tell you that I could not deal with that today.. [].. sometimes getting older is for the birds.. []

...I sure hope tomorrow is not too cold... it would be a rough start to the day..

MacFly [cool]
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[bendopolo]

I know the cold slows down the fisherman as much as the fish...plus I can't feel my fingers...and snotsicles suck...But big fish are always worth the pain.
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[katghoti]

Some of the best fishing at times. Flygoddess is right, think small (like size 20 and smaller). Midges are great in black, red, olive and green. Also, don't count out dry fly action.

I like zebra nymphs and yong specials for this time of the year, but any threadfly usually produces. I am including some patterns that work well for me at the end of the post.

I was on one of the local rivers and the sun came out for about an hour and the river exploded with top action. I just sat and watched (didn't have anything small enough). Then the sun went behind the clouds and the hatch stopped and I was able to get them again. In some areas there is a great little hatch called the February stone. Little buggers (think prince in size 18) works great. Another plus is it is usually a little warmer by the rivers and the solitude is great. The snow muffles the sound producing an eerie quite and most of the song birds are gone lending to the effect. But to look out on a field of untouched snow sparkling like a million diamonds is just great. Also the whitefish spawn in December and January so the action is hot for these guys to (small scud and hares ears are crack to these suckers). I sat in one hole on a river last February the air temp was colder than he-- and I was fighing through iced guides (no cure and dipping the tip of your rod in the river only prolongs the agony [crazy]) and pulled in 35 fish. Great day indeed.

One last thing to remember. The fish's metabolism is slowed so don't take a long time to fight them. Get them in as quick as possible, keep them in the water as much as possible (the shock of the cold air can hurt them), and handle them as least as possible and they will do fine.

These two flies work great for the Ogden River during the winter:

Some sort of Midge (SSM)
Hook: size 18-24
Tail: None
Body: Black thread
Wire: Copper (very thin)
Wing: White biot (thinner is better)
Hackle: Soft Hackle Black trimmed short
Thread: Black or olive

Put the hook in the vice and tie in your thread. Tie in your wire at the bend. Wrap the hook forward to the eye with the thread, then back half way. Counter wrap the wire (usually two to three wraps do it). Tie off. Tie in the biot point side first extending the biot back over the bend. Tie in a small black wet hackle and turn around the hook once (no more). Tie off. Trim the biot so the length is at the bend of the hook. Trim the hackle so it is not to long. I like to trim it shorter on top and leave it a little longer on the bottom (I guess it looks like an emerger or something).

Fishing. Don't put any floatant on this. It fishes well in the water column anywere. I put this one once when a hatch started and nailed on top until the fly was water logged, then nailed them sub-surface, and finally along the bottom.

Wire Fly of some sort (WFS)
Hook: Size 18-24
Body: Two stands hotwire (red, copper)
Head: Small glass bead
Thorax: Peacock Hurl
Thread: Red

This fly ties fast and it great. Place the bead on the hook and move it to the eye. Start the thread behind the bead to lock it in. Wrap back to the bend. Cut two strips of hotwire the same size (use the fine stuff here). Tie them in together on the far side of the hook. Wrap forward so the body is flat and the wire is alternating colors. Tie off behind the bead. Tie in one strand of peacock hurl. Give one or two turns (no more you don't want to much). Tie off.

Fishing: This is a great trailing fly or fish it under a dry for good results. The browns on the Ogden love this fly.


Heck anyone who wants some of these, I'll tie them up and send them to ya. Just PM me and I'll get some out as soon as I can.
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[flygoddess]

katghoti, you are either in the Christmas spirit or you are a Prince for sure and I tend to believe both.
One thin is, when it is snowing, it is actually warm, it's when it stops snowing, crisp clear night skies, that it freezes. Last night was 10 degrees out by Kennecott. To make matters worse, there was a breeze...YIKES![pirate]
Good news, talked to my nephew in IF and I think I will try some fishing up there this next weekend. A Xmas gift to myself.[laugh]
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[poky-mon]

Heres a couple pics of me, mojo, FG,and another brother EDPlaying on the middle provo
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[tubeN2]

I gave up flyfishing in the winter when I still lived in UT and ID. It was too hard to hit a 6 inch hole in the ice at 40 paces.

So Cal is a different story. We can fly fish all year long in fresh and saltwater.

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[poky-mon]

I gave up flyfishing in the winter when I still lived in UT and ID. It was too hard to hit a 6 inch hole in the ice at 40 paces.

Practice grasshopper Start out at 3 paces and work your way out. I can pop a dry into the hole at 80 ft now [sly]
When I come that way(hoping next month) you can show me the california winter wonders and if macfly hooks up we can get skunked together
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[tubeN2]

We already taught him the skunk thing. Now we taught him how to get skunked in a tube.

Be sure to bring your tube or pontube out with you on the next trip. We could sure have fun playing bumper tubes with a few beer and the inflatables.[cool]
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[macfly55]

...hey I resemble that remark you mad about me.. [sly]

MacFly [cool]
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[flygoddess]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 4]Macfly, I am waiting for all the details of your maiden Voyage![/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 4]Poky is a die hard so be prepared. The post is about winter fishing, well here is Poky:[/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 4] [inline "Misty Fishing 500.jpg"][/size][/black][/font]
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[macfly55]

Id say poky is crazy.. but have seen shows of guys in Utah/Idaho/Colorado area that do this every year.. kind of a friendly gathering.. LOL...

MacFly
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