Winter Trout Strategies

Winter can provide some excellent fishing opportunities for much of the US. While there are those bitter-cold pits of winter despa...

Winter can provide some excellent fishing opportunities for much of the US. While there are those bitter-cold pits of winter despair, where it is too frigid to fish for months on end, most of us are lucky enough to be free of winter's icy grip for at least most of the winter, and that means that our local trout are waiting for us.

It just seems that much harder to get up early in the winter. Layers and layers of clothes followed by thermos' full of coffee and long, dark, lonesome drives to the river. Once those well-insulated boots hit the water though, the dreary winter attitude seems to lift.

Winter tailwater trout fisheries, rivers that are fed by a dam, are pretty predictable, albeit challenging at the same time. Early morning can often provide a little window of trout eating the smallest of dry flies, but often the rises are too sporadic to target and the bugs too small to imitate.

Nymphing is usually the strategy for the morning time. Most of the flies that I have found to be productive are small, a #18-22 or smaller. A typical setup is a #18 Beadhead Barr's BWO Emerger with a #22 Beadhead Black Zebra Midge behind it. A wide variety of nymphs seem to work well as long as they are small and simple. Imitating midges and Blue Winged Olives is often a winning strategy.

BH Barr's BWO Emerger

Another strategy includes using a tasty treat that no trout can refuse. Stonefly nymphs are prevalent year-round, and trout know them when they see them. A Pat's Rubber Leg nymph can be just as productive as anything else in January. Fishing a larger stonefly nymph, like a #6 or #8 can work great, but I like a #10 Pat's Rubber Leg in peacock or black during the winter. The salmonfly nymph that will hatch in a few months are not quite a size #6 yet, and the #10 should cover immature golden stones, salmonflies and the skwala nymphs that are going to mature and hatch in March or April.

Pat's Rubber Leg - A Must Have

There are a few types of small stoneflies that hatch in the winter, and their presence has a huge impact on the effectiveness of a stonefly nymph. There are little brown stones, that are often closer to black in color, but they hatch in a size #8-14 from January to March in many locations. A Beadhead Micro Stonefly is a killer pattern during this January and February for these mini stones.

Another stonefly that has trout looking for a Pat's Rubber Leg is the Skwala. It is brown or olive and hatches from February through April. These are a bit larger than the mini stones from earlier in the winter, but not quite as big as the salmonflies that hatch later in the spring. Usually a Pat's Rubber Leg in a size #8 or #10 in brown/olive, peacock or black will do the trick. The dry fly Skwalas can produce fish on top, but the nymphs provide a lot of food before they hatch. I don't count on being able to rise fish when there are Skwalas around, but I am prepared to try when I see them.

BH Micro Stone

Worms are also always "in vogue", especially in the colder months. San Juan Worms or Squirmy Worms in red, pink or brown should always be under consideration in the winter. Another standard-issue winter nymph setup is fondly referred to as the "Gridle-worm". A big stonefly nymph with a worm behind it has been responsible for many, many fish caught in the winter.

Euro-style nymphers also do well in the winter using a variety Euro-style flies. Many of them use the same flies in the summer as in the winter. Egan's Frenchie is a fly that catches fish whenever it gets the chance, as well as the Blowtorch. The Euro crowd does tend to try to imitate midge and Blue Winged Olive nymphs and midges when needed. The Cinnamon Crunch is a nice little BWO fly that kills it in the winter for many local Euro nymphers, and a Tungsten Zebra Midge is a go-to for Euro nymphers and more traditional fly anglers alike.

This Rainbow ate a midge dry

Trout tend to pod up in the winter. If you can find one, there are usually more close by. They also like to sit in soft, unassuming water. Slow water can hold a lot of fish, not really a ton of structure needed, their location makes them hard to find, and hard to target. While they can sit in deep pools beyond our reach, we can also find them eating in tailouts of those pools, as well as behind riffles, where the water really slows down and starts to get deeper. Look for "transition" water, in between summer spots and stuff that looks too slow or deep to fish.

Midges can hatch thick enough to bring trout to the surface. These hatches, in most locations, cannot be found reliable enough to walk into on any given day with success. I have found that midge hatches tend to happen more consistently when there has been high pressure set in for a few days, as in the weather is sunny and cleat with no wind, but that may just be when I have had success and not a trend in hatches. A small, dark colored parachute style fly in a #18-22 should do the trick. The Parachute Midge is quite popular, but I also like the Sprout Midge Emerger and have had good success with it.

Oregon in the Winter

Somewhere in the middle of the day, there is often a nice BWO (Blue Winged Olive, or Baetis) hatch. We spent all morning fishing with nymphs, hoping that the adults will hatch and bring the fish up. BWOs like to hatch in the backwaters, eddies and in slow pools. We can usually count on thick BWO hatches on cloudy days, and we are often a bit surprised to find a thick hatch on a sunny day, although it happens quite a bit.

Beyond the cold, clear water, the location where BWOs hatch can make the fish spooky, wary and darn right hard to catch. But this is when the big ones are eating. Fishing a back-eddy can be tough. Two currents going in opposite directions and the fish right in the middle of it. Others like to eat BWO dries in the middle of a big, slow pool, where they have plenty of time to inspect the presentation and see the cast from 50 feet away. Often, these are the fish that you get one cast at. My one cast typically ends up in the bushes behind me.

After the afternoon BWO hatch wanes, often as the first hints of the evening start to show, the fish tend to stop rising to dries. I usually call it a day at that point, but some anglers do find more fish right until dark using the midges, stoneflies or worms that worked in the morning.

This big brown ate a streamer in the late afternoon

Many anglers claim that the hour or so before dark is the best time to throw a streamer in the winter (or the summer, fall or spring for that matter). Big, meaty streamers can produce big, meaty trout. The Trophy Dungeon, Muddy Buddy and Conehead Crystal Bugger are local favorites for the Deschutes River, here in Oregon. The tailouts of those big pools and back-eddies are where most anglers throw a streamer, but my friend and I had a killer session a few years back ripping streamers across a shallow riffle as the fish had moved up there to eat midge nymphs in the evening.

Fishing in the winter is both challenging and really fun. The fish can be picky and big. They can rise enough to give you hope and then disappear without a trace. They can be eager and willing to play one day, and then impossible to even find the next. Just when you think you have it figured out, they will let you know that you most certainly don't. But when you put in the time, the rewards can be great.