As the intoxicating, warmish, late fall weather slips away, and days get colder and shorter, I just dread the thought of winter and darkness at 4:30pm. But every winter, I’m pleasantly surprised by some really good midge and bwo dry fly action, and the always productive midge pupa nymphing. Personally, I like finding winter fish in pods and seams, far from the late fall, brown trout redds, and early spring rainbow trout redds. There is nothing noble about fishing in spawning water,
not even for 5,000 clicks or likes on Instagram. Ick. Except for freezing fingers, finding some happy risers, during that magic three-hour window, noon to 3:00pm, checks a lot of boxes. One would be just getting out in it, plodding around on snowy trails in toasty warm, bootfoot waders and carrying a light 8 ½ foot 4 weight. The vest or pack is much lighter, a couple spools of tippet and one fly box is all it takes. The heaviest item in your kit might be a flask.
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Another reason for finding winter joy comes from the lack of people on the water. Many times, even on the well-known rivers between West Yellowstone and Idaho Falls, no anglers are in sight. And those short days give us the opportunity to meet after fishing for tacos at 5:00pm. This is also the time of the year when you can fish with guide and fly shop friends, who are booked up all summer and fall. I could go on and on.
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Winter fly fishing is always more fun than I recall, after a robust and crazy active spring, summer and fall, and not the gloom and doom that sets in, in November. If only I could find a glove that I could fish in.
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Contributed By
Brian O’Keefe
Living 12 minutes from good, winter fly water helps. It’s hard to justify a two hour drive, both ways, for a couple hours of fishing in freezing conditions. There are no out of state license plates in December, ahhhh! However, there is winter fishing all over the world. Redfish, steelhead, bonefish, and all the great trophy trout in the Southern Hemisphere. Not to mention golden dorado, peacock bass, GTs, etc. Winter trout have a different reward. For me, it is not about big fish, it is about knowing where to be and when. Following the bugs, knowing where to go if it’s windy, and having the right fly patterns. Changing flies is a last resort, so putting on the right leader and tippet combo, with a good fly, at home with warm hands and in good light, is a smart thing. It’s fun when that set up cracks the code.