Talk to me about small streams in winter

[hooker-of-men]

This year was the first time I spent investing time in exploring small mountain streams and targeting smallish wild fish. I liked it a great deal and had a lot of fun hiking around some weird spots (here in the southern Adirondacks, it feels particularly cool that many, many small streams in pretty developed areas hold lots of fish. You can find fish - and even the possibility of a wild slam - in some surprising places.)

Now that NY has opened up C&R fishing for a lot of water throughout the year, I'm curious if this is still a worthwhile game? I really prefer to do this type of fishing with big dries. Stimmies or terrestrials, etc. The fish don't give a damn if anything remotely like the attractor patterns I throw is naturally occurring on the water during the warm months. Will they still rise in the cold? In folks' experience, how aggressively do wild fish in small mountain streams feed through the winter?

 

[pcray1231]

As a general rule, you'll catch fewer, and more time will be spent fishing underneath. More fish in tailouts in winter too.

A dry dropper is my standard winter rig. If you find you're hooking them on the dry, cut off the dropper. It does happen.

 

[Dave_W]

Agree with Pcray. ^

Stick with your dry flies, however I'm more confident with subsurface in winter as I'm convinced that small stream trout in very cold temps are less active and under rocks much of the time. A deep fished fly will be seen by more fish.

Much of the winter mountain stream game revolves around dressing for cold and winter conditions and this is a big topic for a different thread.

Generally speaking, mountain streams are fishable and can treat you well in winter. Not surprisingly, a warm period following several sunny days tends to be best. Fish late in the day when temps are highest. In my experience, streams mainly populated with brookies tend to fish better than brown trout streams. I'm convinced that small stream brookies are much more active and aggressive in cold water than browns. There's a common belief that small stream trout are only in "holes" in winter. While this has some truth (brookies are found in deeper pools throughout the year) don't skip riffle and run spots. I catch brookies in riffles in the dead of winter. Fish low and slow with fairly large, bright colored nymphs or wet flies.

If a stream is hard frozen or has substantial ice, I rarely bother going fishing. However, if you really have the itch, give it a shot. I have caught brookies in icey streams by letting my fly swing downstream under an ice sheet.

 

[Bamboozle]

In winter on small streams, I almost exclusively fish beadheads or small soft hackle flies.

First off, it is much easier when it is cold to not be fussing with bottles of floatant and other stuff to keep dries aloft, especially if you wear gloves.

Second, they work great for me everywhere fished directly upstream into every little pocket or hole I can find, usually under a small indicator. I also can use 3X or 4X and worry about "finesse'"

A couple of things: There is no need to get up at the crack of dawn as the best fishing is when it is warmest so midday is when you want to be sure you are on the water. Things also have a way of shutting down completely as the sun goes down so expect to be getting off the water before 4:00 pm.

However, the most important thing is keeping warm, especially your feet. If you intend to wade and cannot comfortably get your foot into your waders/wading shoes with heavy socks…

…buy another larger pair or skip winter fishing entirely unless you just fish from the bank.

In winter because my wading shoes are purposely roomy, I wear a very thin Merino sock “liner” over my bare foot and a much heavier 800 gram Merino sock over that inside my wader bootee and my regular wading shoe over that. I am in the water literally all day, and my feet stay nice and warm.

The brand of socks I use are Woolpower made in Sweden but available from US retailers. There are other brands out there but the Woolpower stuff is excellent.

Bottom line, if you hop in the water in winter with just your normal “rest of the year” socks, especially if they are cotton or your wading shoes are tight, you will be heading home with frozen feet in short order.

Good luck!!!

 

[springer1]

+1

 

[Canoetripper]

This is my first attempt at winter fly fishing and can't argue with any of the above posts.

I did purchase a dry suit for this and am very prepared with what to wear underneath all of that neoprene.

Euro and traditional nymph fishing is all I need to do.

I have three very primitive cabins on site with very good propane heaters and stove/ovens just in case I get too cold, which I probably will.

I would rather be too hot in the summer than too cold in the winter. Everyone deals with too hot/cold differently depending on weather.

I am kind of pumped up to do my best at winter fly fishing since this is so new to me.

 

[flyguyfishing]

I agree with all above - trout do bite in winter on small streams and staying warm is key. No rattlesnakes makes sneaking more relaxing - I swear brookies can feel vibration of my footsteps. Also, much less ground level vegetation increases access to some streams.

Dry dropper.

Good luck!

Bamboozle, if ya ever find the time I would enjoy a list of your gear! From reading the forum, you seem so particular with all your gear and know what’s good. I agree with your sock recommendation.

 

[hooker-of-men]

Thanks very much for all the replies!

To clarify one point, I am accustomed to winter fishing / fishing all year round. I'm just considering shifting that energy from mid-sized water (e.g. the Battenkill) to tiny streams I've been exploring. What I have in mind would mostly remove the need for wading altogether.

The only snag is I'm kinda grumpy about nymphing. A big part
of the appeal with this type of fishing has been the action on top. If the bite on dries significantly drops off in the cold, as seems likely, I feel like much of the appeal of catching mostly little fish will be lost for me (though my opinions on that might be very different when I'm going insane indoors in February)

I'll get out and investigate soon enough, but all this info is a helpful start! Much appreciated

 

[Swattie87]

Agree with most of the above. A big thing with Winter small stream fishing is to temper your expectations. Even in relatively “good” Winter conditions the fishing is usually slower than during the warmer months.

I look at Winter as a time to explore small streams I have on my list to check out. I don’t fish them as hard as I do in the warmer months, but I hike along and check out the habitat and fish the good looking spots. If I catch (or even just see) some nice fish I put it on the list to check out again during nicer weather. If the stream is a dud, or a rhodo fortress, or just has really junky habitat, I haven’t wasted a day during nicer weather checking it out.

I like to look at it as an opportunity to get out of the house and into the woods, and get off the couch on a Winter weekend day. Fish are a bonus. I usually take along a little isobutane stove and cook some type of hot lunch, usually just Ramen noodles or something, but it adds to the day and is nice to eat/drink something hot in the woods on a cold day.

A few points to add/reiterate from the above:

1. Brookies are generally more reliable than Browns to bite in the Winter months. This is true all year, but seems to be increasingly so in the Winter.

2. Dry/dropper is the way to go. Most fish will eat the dropper, but for me, seeing the dry shoot under retains some (not all) of the dry fly enjoyment you’d get otherwise during warmer weather.

3. The best time to fish (to actually catch fish) in Winter IMO, is after a good rain associated with a warm front rising from the South. This weather pattern only happens a couple of times per Winter at most, so you have to watch for it, but when it happens you typically get a good soaking rain with air temps into the upper 40’s or 50’s even. I’ve had VERY good days fishing streamers the day after this happens in Winter. (This scenario assumes there was no snow on the ground before the rain event, otherwise the melting snow will keep stream temps cold.)

 

[JeffK]

Small mountain stream brookies do seem to bite better than small stream browns, but I have had better luck with browns in winter in medium size streams. The caveat is that the browns seem to congregate in wintering holes in the freestones I fish. Therefore, if I miss the wintering holes I have poor fishing, but when I find the fish the fishing can be hot. Dark bottom, slow to medium current, deep enough to hide but not too deep to catch some sun warming. Sometimes the silty warm tails of pools that wouldn't hold trout the rest of the year.

Any temperature rise in winter can turn the fish on. ie, if it goes from 35F to 37F the fish can turn on. Rain on snow turns off the fish. I find the warm rain thing is more reliable in late winter/early spring. In Finger Lakes a warm rain can really concentrate fish near the mouths of tributaries - should work at most trout lakes.

For me, comfort is essential. Dress warm and only fish the warmest part of the day.

 

[RLeep2]

Stream choice can also make a significant difference in winter angling success. It is pretty axiomatic that streams that stay the coolest and maintain the best flows in summer despite heat and modest drought are also going to be the best choices in winter because the stronger spring inputs that allows them to stay cooler in summer means they will usually be warmer in winter. This can make a difference when we are trying to catch a cold blooded critter like a trout..

 

[sarce]

Brookie fishing in winter can get tough depending on the stream, but I agree with most of the above posts. Target warm days, but if you've gotta get out and it's cold, look for sunlit areas or go to those streams with the most spring influence like RLeep mentioned. Not necessarily limestone spring creeks either if you don't live near any. Freestone streams have varying degrees of groundwater input. If there is a strong cold snap come mid winter, go out and look to see which streams haven't frozen over - those are gonna be good ones to target.

Another good way to spot an area with extra groundwater influence is to look at maps and find flat, marshy areas or places where multiple small tributaries come together. My last tip is to not be afraid to try farther downstream than you normally would. Wild trout can show up in some unusual places in winter... they'll be wherever the food is since water temp doesn't limit their range in winter.

 

[troutbert]

hooker-of-men wrote:
Thanks very much for all the replies!

To clarify one point, I am accustomed to winter fishing / fishing all year round. I'm just considering shifting that energy from mid-sized water (e.g. the Battenkill) to tiny streams I've been exploring. What I have in mind would mostly remove the need for wading altogether.

The only snag is I'm kinda grumpy about nymphing. A big part
of the appeal with this type of fishing has been the action on top. If the bite on dries significantly drops off in the cold, as seems likely, I feel like much of the appeal of catching mostly little fish will be lost for me (though my opinions on that might be very different when I'm going insane indoors in February)

I very good option to cure cabin fever is to go hiking along streams during the cold months.

 

[troutbert]

I haven't fished the Adirondacks at all, let alone in the winter time, but I'm guessing that the weather is much colder than in mid-state PA where I live.

I've walked along streams in Vermont and New Hampshire in mid-winter and there was ice covering much of the stream, anchor ice on the bottom.

It's hard to imagine how the trout even survive such conditions. In the far north where winters are really cold, it may be that a lot of the brook trout drop down into lakes and ponds to survive during winter.

 

[hooker-of-men]

troutbert wrote:
I haven't fished the Adirondacks at all, let alone in the winter time, but I'm guessing that the weather is much colder than in mid-state PA where I live.

It's certainly cold, but, like PA, it waxes and wanes and you get the odd day without ice on your guides.

Oddly, for much of last winter the problem wasn't the cold so much as getting hit with 3'-4' of snow overnight on Dec 16th. There was so much on the ground so fast that people never caught up with where to put it for much of the season. Parking pretty much anywhere other than a large plowed lot or driveway was out of the question, so fishing was pretty tough to access.

Hoping we don't see that again, for many reasons

 

[drossi]

sarce wrote:
My last tip is to not be afraid to try farther downstream than you normally would. Wild trout can show up in some unusual places in winter... they'll be wherever the food is since water temp doesn't limit their range in winter.

Good point, the lower sections of small streams that are marginal or non trout waters during the summer because of temps are often good during the winter months for that same reason. The temps tend to run higher and be more conducive to feeding fish.

 

[pcray1231]

My experience is that reverses in the heart heart of winter. Not shoulder seasons like now, but mid January-February.

The places that are warmer in summer are colder with more ice in mid-winter.

Think of it this way. Water from springs comes out at mid 50's. As you get further from those springs, the temperature is closer to the actual air temperature.

Even small mountain freestoners come from springs, they're just smaller springs. But it still comes out in the mid-50's year round.

 

[dc410]

Small stream fishing in the winter is something that I have always really enjoyed although I don’t do it as much as I used to. I avoid not getting cold feet my simply not getting in the water. Small streams in the winter generally don’t require that anyway. My normal attire for small stream fishing in the winter is my Carhart work pants and my Redwing boots. If I think I may need to cross the stream in a deeper section I may take the time to put on the Muck boots but I rarely do that. A favorite of mine is sticking some wild brookies on a small mountain stream on a size 14 (or so) Mickey Finn streamer. Catching native brookies on a Mickey Finn is just cool!

 

[JeffK]

One old trick is to travel along a stream in deepest winter when ice forms around the edges of the stream. Notice were there is a break in the ice - that is the warm spot. Of course they are mainly springs that hold fish in warmer weather as well.

I know a few rivers where the sewage treatment plant outflow is the winter hot spot. Don't like to think too much about that.

In the Adirondacks many streams ice over. Once in my foolish days I skied down the Sacandaga R - had to avoid the few holes through the ice.