What to use?

[redietz]

JimKennedy wrote:
... all trout that are wild born or truly feral will be on the bottom.

Not necessarily true. I catch wild browns year round in the Gunpowder fishing in the film. In fact, I've had a few good days fishing dries in mid-January. Of course, there was an olive hatch in progress, which re-enforces your statement about fishing where the the fish are (good advice all year); that doesn't always happen to be on bottom, though, even in the winter. If there's anything to bring the fish up (like midges or winter stoneflies) that's where they'll be.

JackM wrote:
For what it is worth: trout in winter often lay still on sunny days in shallow water to absorb the heat from the rocks and gravel under their bellies.

Very true, although some think the reason is more that insects are there for the same reason, and that the trout are there for the insects. Whichever is true, I've caught an unreasonable number of trout in six inches of water in winter. Doesn't happen much the rest of the year.

 

[bigjohn58]

I know Walts Worms work all year long for me on my favorite stream.