Categories

Locations

Fish

Worth the hike. Zebra midge wins again.

Western Winters

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.

Even down in the farmland flats, near St Anthony, this is snowpack on the Fall River. A beautiful thing.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. One last lake session…







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. 




On those cold winter days, a Yellowstone cutthroat is a big color hit, and a nice tug. Very small nymphs match the hatch, but a squirmy worm…
Margarita slush meets crèmé brulee crust. Time to head to a taco truck in St Anthony and the Star Bar.

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.

This clean, chrome rainbow was caught in the Snake River, at least an hour and a half drive downstream from the trout rich waters near South Fork Lodge. I look for long, slow-to-slack pools, and fish them like a stillwater. Buggers, scuds, leeches, etc.
Call me weird, but I really don’t fish for trout this size, when I’m using 6X or 7X and size 24 midge pupa. 12 inchers to 15 inchers are super fun.
No scars or worse, on this pristine 13-inch brown. Fished a midge emerger in the film. Try those midge emerger patterns with a small bit of white foam on them. Cast to risers when you see only the dorsal and tail in the rise form. Set on a swirl where you think your fly should be. Thank me later.
All over the Western US, there are US Fish and Wildlife refuges, and Wildlife Management Areas. Here, snow geese, swans and ducks mix it up and provide great entertainment. Bald eagles can’t be far away, too.
March on the Henry’s Fork means it’s time for the waxwings to converge on riverside trees and bushes. These are mostly Bohemian waxwings, with a couple cedar waxwings thrown in for good measure.
On the way to Driggs, ID, on the Teton River.

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. 

#

From The Archives

Stay up to date with Catch Magazine

Sign up to be notified any time a new issue comes out!

This field is hidden when viewing the form

Next Steps: Sync an Email Add-On

To get the most out of your form, we suggest that you sync this form with an email add-on. To learn more about your email add-on options, visit the following page (https://www.gravityforms.com/the-8-best-email-plugins-for-wordpress-in-2020/). Important: Delete this tip before you publish the form.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

No spam, ever.

Join our free newsletter to get instant access to this video