Salomone: Winter weather fly fishing.
Michael Salomone/Courtesy photo
A freestone stream presents challenging issues during the winter. It takes patience, finesse and a high degree of resilience to achieve success on the Eagle River during the cold weather months. The conditions demand attention above and below the waterline. Nymphing is the name of the game and it is best to double down with your offerings. Tandem rigging is key.
The river water is cold and clear. In winter fly fishing, fluorocarbon tippet is an asset. Durability and visibility are tipped in the angler’s favor with quality leaders and tippet. Umpqua, Scientific Anglers and Rio are a few of the leading names Vail Valley Anglers carry for dealing with the harsh conditions.
Prepping your rod for the icy buildup that occurs on rod guides and fly line is best done with Stanley’s Ice Off paste. However, this is not a fix-all product. It will need reapplication after wear from repeated activity. High sticking 鈥� holding the fly line off the water by raising the rod into the air 鈥� helps minimize the amount of ice build up on the line. This position manages fly lines for drag free drifts and already places the angler in the fighting position with little movement needed to set the hook.
Setting is important. Many strikes are extremely subtle. The touch of a river rock on your fly has the same tick or pause as a lethargic trout bite. Set more often than you think. Set at the end of the drift to test line before recasting.
Deep in the heart of winter is not a spawning time of year, but trout are still caught on egg patterns all winter long. The attraction from a brightly colored, big bite of protein paired up with a naturally-toned nymph holds tremendous benefits on the water. Unweighted egg flies with a milky veil produce more for me during the winter.
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Keeping the flies down deep is critical and a learning game for determining how much weight for differing conditions. A single BB does not solve everything. Technical nymphing in winter requires a delicate touch and precise drifts often attainable only from minute changes in weight.
The only place where color is overstated in your flies during the cold is with your attractor flies. Other attractor flies for the winter besides eggs would be scuds and worms. The egg and worm flies are imitations of food sources with no locomotion. Yet, worms still possess enticing movement. Eggs and worms can’t swim, therefore making them easy pickings for trout that will not move far for a meal.
A Squirmy Wormy or a chenille San Juan worm are great flies for winter fly fishing. Pink, tan or off-white are the colors to favor. Winter worms bleach out in the river, losing color quickly.
聽A streamer and nymph combination is a common pairing during the winter. The preference leans towards flies such as the Wooly Bugger, white zonker or olive conehead. Small, single shanked streamers dead drift with more effectiveness than articulated streamers.
Some anglers prefer an egg-sucking leech pattern in winter. The egg does offer an attractive color. A dead drifted bugger has slight movement in the tail suggestive of life, increasing the edible factor. Squirrel leeches are smaller in size but still deliver enticing movement. Colors are dark, black, brown, purple or rusty red.
Pair the Wooly Bugger with a naturally toned nymph like a pheasant tail, zebra midge or RS-2. The zebra midge or pheasant tail should be in sizes 18-20. Nymphs should imitate the larva stage but any indication of adults skating around and change from a larva to a pupae stage. The slightly swollen head and thorax of the pupal stage is often tied with a tuft of wing emerging from the fly indicating an emerger midge.
Perdigon nymphs are producers in the cold. The thin-bodied flies sink quickly from heavy beads and ride deep throughout the drift. Perdigons and pheasant tails create a sneaky, unobtrusive rig that can be easily adjusted for different depths.
Small dark stoneflies are frequently encountered during the winter. But I use stonefly nymphs no bigger than a size 16 in the cold. The real stones in the winter are small, brown or black in color and thin.
Often a gaudy nymph paired with a naturally toned fly will determine the flavor for the day. Bright and attractive or small and subtle, two nymphs paired together in the winter deliver twice as much fishing.
Michael Salomone moved to the Eagle River valley in 1992. He began guiding fly-fishing professionally in 2002. His freelance writing has been published in magazines and websites including, Southwest Fly Fishing, Fly Rod & Reel, Eastern Fly Fishing, On the Fly, FlyLords, the Pointing Dog Journal, Upland Almanac, the Echo website, Vail Valley Anglers and more. He lives on the bank of the Eagle River with his wife, Lori; two daughters, Emily and Ella; and a brace of yellow Labrador retrievers.
