Winter Nymphs - Godzilla or Atom Ant?

[Gorosaurus]

I have been seeing a lot of magazines and threads indicating that fish this time of year are going to respond to small patterns. This strikes me as a 180-degree turn from past advice. It is my history and assumption that downsizing flies is the opposite of what trout are looking for during "cabin fever season."

If I am an athletic fish trying to simply survive until greener pastures come downstream, I am going to go for the biggest, juiciest bugs that I can find.


IS there a consensus on fly size during this time of year? I am specifically referring to the expected scenario of no bug action being evident to human eyes- what size nymph (or heck, even dry!) do you reach for? Why's that?

 

[David]

I think it is a bit of both.... Big stoneflies stay relatively active during the cold months, so they are always a viable option if the stream holds SFs.
But by shear numbers, midges (and olives) are more abundantly available for trout... Just about any day in the winter you can find a midge hatch which means they are floating down the currents making an easy meal for a stationary trout.
A pound of midges equals a pound of stonefly... It's a question of does the trout pass up small bites just to sit and wait for the one big one or take advantage of all food sources?
Most other nymphs are relatively dormant during cold months, so that leaves the big and the small as primary options.

 

[PennKev]

I think a lot really depends on water clarity. When really cold temps set in and there are not many quick snow melts, a lot of streams can become very clear, couple this with the fact that almost all bugs that are active in the winter will be small, then small fly pattern s become important. Midges are most prevalent but small stones and BWO's can show up too at times. At any rate, all require #18 or smaller to match. Even when fishing junk like eggs or SJW's I go much smaller than normal at this time of year.

Unless...

On the other hand, if we're in the middle of a pattern of snowfall and rapid thawing or warmer wet weather, creeks may be flowing strong and have a deep green stain or be downright dirty. This becomes common in the later part of winter. In these cases I fish bigger flies. I don't go crazy however, #12 is about as big as I regularly go, and realistically, most of our streams just don't have many naturals that are bigger than that. I frequently encounter brown stonefly hatches at the end of March, but they are not really all that big. Some of the central PA streams do have good numbers of much bigger stoneflies, and appropriately sized patterns can work on those particular streams, but otherwise I usually still stick with #12 or smaller. I do find that black nymphs are very effective at this time of year regardless of water clarity.

So to sum it up, the same considerations apply to winter as any other time of year. What natural foods are hatching/active/abundant? What are the water conditions?

Kev

 

[ebroesicke]

I don't think it matters much. It is probably true that most mayflies and midges are small this time of year, but any fish would be asking for natural selection if it passes up a bigger meal. Fish a tandem rig, don't over think it and let the fish decide.

If you are looking for a consensus, don't ever ask a group of fishermen. Ask 10 fishermen a question and you will likely get 11 answers.

 

[Stenonema]

I like the way you fish Goro and it is a great question but I am not going to give exact patterns but rather the thoughts that are behind what I choose. I hope that this helps you with ideas that open winter fishing up as more interesting and not an exact science.
I enjoy the sunnier and warmer days of winter to fish. I know that the cold months period is a hungry and desperate time for a lot of predators. In this case a large trout or musky may not have eaten for a long time and may still have pangs from loss of energy during spawn. The light penetrates the cold clear water of winter especially on the days I prefer to fish. I think of it as fact that the amount of light exposure is indicative of color and that many fish during this period are a reflective silver. My first pattern in a tandem would fit this pattern and if I had to choose only one pattern to fish it would be this one. The benefit of covering water that a streamer brings is not to be overlooked in this scenario as not all fish will be active. I want to search and cover water. I want this large pattern to be loud and flashy because I want it to be seen. It is simple, but 100 percent of the fish who do not see or sense the presence of my fly will not eat it. A predatory fish can see a long way in winter. The cold water makes the fish slow and lethargic. A fish that may be surprised by the first fly will not turn down a trailing pattern once he has made the effort to feed in most situations that I fish.
I hope that these ideas and thoughts do not offend those who differ in opinion or do not share in them.
Ooops the question was in regards to Nymphs. Some of the same things apply.

 

[PennKev]

ebroesicke wrote:
I don't think it matters much. It is probably true that most mayflies and midges are small this time of year, but any fish would be asking for natural selection if it passes up a bigger meal. Fish a tandem rig, don't over think it and let the fish decide.

Why do fish usually pass up a #8 wooly bugger during a midge hatch? After, all how can they pass up a big meal.

The fish do ultimately "decide" but we can get quite a head start by thinking of the way fish actually behave in given conditions.

I enjoy fishing and I enjoy being successful at it so yeah, it does matter to me.

 

[McSneek]

This is why the tandem rig was invented. Something small trailing off something a little larger. Switch both flies as needed until you find one or both that the fish are eating.

 

[JeffK]

Us fishermen do love our theories. Winter fly fishing has always had two storylines as long as I have been at it:
1. Trout metabolism is slow and midges are what they see most often so feed them something small.
2. Trout are lethargic in the cold so feed them a nice big streamer worked slow to wake them up.

I've had good luck with both theories, as well as fishing little black stone nymphs (spent a decade using only them in freestones in the winter), scuds, and chimarra (orange) or green caddis larvae in streams where they get active in late winter/early spring. Eggs are rarely a bad choice in the winter either.

I think fly selection theory has less importance than finding the wintering lies and get a slow presentation right to where the fish are. I find swinging streamers slowly right near the bottom a better option for searching and small nymphs are better for me in home water holes I know just where they lie. The winter refuges for most streams I fish are different from the spring and summer hotspots; on many limestoners they can be similar. Some days I get sick of nymphing and wade down the stream and cast streamers for the activity.

 

[ebroesicke]

PennKev wrote:

Why do fish usually pass up a #8 wooly bugger during a midge hatch? After, all how can they pass up a big meal.

The fish do ultimately "decide" but we can get quite a head start by thinking of the way fish actually behave in given conditions.

I enjoy fishing and I enjoy being successful at it so yeah, it does matter to me.

Why can I catch fish on a beetle during the trico spinner fall? No doubt selective feeding can happen when an abundance of 1 type of food in present. But I should have qualified my answer to include during winter, when there are no major hatches happening, which I kind of thought we were talking about. I still believe you can catch fish either way those times on nymphs. I fish a tandem rig to hedge my bets.


I agree with JeffK that getting something in their face is more important.

 

[Chaz]

2 things to remember, little black stone flies are mature and getting ready to hatch, and trout will often take a small midge pattern during this hatch. The hatch actually happens in from January through the end of February, with the main event toward the mid February period. During this time the midges are hatching quite often, so anything in a # 18 that is black will get the trouts attention.
But so does a well placed streamer at the end of a swing, especially when the trout are taking the little stuff, make sure to let it swing to the surface and then cast again.
If you are looking for a good 1-2 punch, put on a small black stone nymph, with a big woolly bugger as a dropper.

 

[Gorosaurus]

I think my interest in this subject is that the two are near opposites. ebroesicke's comment about fisherfolks' theories holds pretty true.


I am a staunch supporter of tandem rigs- in fact, I only fish less than two flies when I get annoyed of wind knots and squirrel fishing.

The only difference with winter is that I'll probably skip the dry fly for another month or so.

 

[lv2nymph]

I always run a two fly rig, in winter the anchor is usually a size ten something (tungsten) and a 14,16,18 dropper. The last five times I've been out all jan/feb 2/3s of the trout each time were caught were on the size ten.