Fly Fishing - Idaho Steelhead Fishing: Good River In March?

Matt1515 · Location: Greensboro, NC

I'm headed to the mountains this weekend. Will be mainly fishing small trout water. Was curious to see what favorite winter trout flies people were using. Anyone have any of those "must have patterns" that I need to tie tonight before I go? I have tied all of the staples but am looking for the out of the ordinary.

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

hey ... don't know how "cold" it will be .... and i don't know where you are fly fishing ...but maybe that is just the kind of thought process that might give you some ideas ... so, if i personally were going now to fish NC mountain areas, i would probably have a box with the following ... again, this is just my personal thinking and selections .. could be totally wrong .. but maybe not??

... if its really cold, i would imagine the trout will be less likely to move much for anything ... but i would still try to have all my basis covered for anything in which case ... i might bring ...

1. copper johns
2. green weenies (these worked great for me in mountanous southern state trout fisheries for some reason?)
3. caddis puppa
4. micro egg patterns
5. flashback pheasent tails
6. san juan worms
7. prince nymphs
8. cinnamon and black ants
9. grifith gnats
10. CONEHEAD olive wooly buggers various sizes
11. adams dry flies (small)
12. elk hair caddis
13. some sort of white streamer
14. adams wet fly
15. march brown wet fly

i would probably start out probing water and see if i could turn any fish fishing from upstream and working down with a cohehead wooly bugger .. first with no dropper and then with a march brown or adams wet fly dropper...

if no luck with above .. i would switch to inidicator and go small stuff .. but for me, i usually find that conehead wooly bugger with a dropper is an effective searching pattern and if there are trout, i can usually get some to turn on it ..... and then once i find where the trout are ... i will start to indicator fish ... for me, if i don't know the water, i feel that indicator fishing isnot fast enough for me ... i like to cover tons of water and find the fish .. and then once i do that ... i will go back through and try to dial into the exact type of patterns that they are interested in ....

........ so that is just my advice .. which again, for clarity purposes, could be totally bad advice ... take it for what its worth ... it works well for me though .. maybe you will get something out of it... good luck .. let us know how you do ....

Matt1515 · Location: Greensboro, NC

Supposed to have some snow tonight. 35F during the day and teens at night. Your list is similar to mine. I use alot of midge patterns as well. The water is narrow with lots of shallow riffles. I'm not familiar with the green weenie. Know of any sites with a good step by step instruction? Just the recipe will work too.

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

right .. midges too .. but, i am not that great of a midge fly fisherman ... so, i typically rely on the things i am better at, hence the fly selection with the token grifith gnat thrown in for good measure Very Happy

-- ps .. also i'd probably throw a couple stone flies in there too...

anyway --- here is some great tips for winter trout fly fishing ... by Tom Rosenbauer .. author of tons of fly fishing strategy and fly tying books ....

Where to find trout in winter

http://www.orvis.com/detail.asp?subject=289&index=1&adv=6745

and - check this out by Tom R - BEST FLIES FOR WINTER TROUT FISHING .. great info here ...

http://www.orvis.com/detail.asp?subject=289&index=3&adv=6749

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

ok .. laugh if you will ... but i swear to you .... this fly saved the day in many virgina, pa and md streams for me .. especially in winter ... i don't know what it is supposed to represent or whatnot ... all i know is i watched as i caught nothing and locals on the rivers caught fish after fish .... got tired of watching and decided to do some catching in these regions ... and the green weenie was untouchable ..

here is a version ... picture and tying recipe and the option to buy

http://www.orvis.com/store/product_choice.asp?pf_id=02H8&dir_id=1236&group_id=1248&cat_id=5844&subcat_id=7172&feature_id=17

Matt1515 · Location: Greensboro, NC

I have seen this fly before but never used it. Sometimes the most simple are the true wepons in this sport. Looks like I can kick out several pretty fast. Any preference on size?

Matt1515 · Location: Greensboro, NC

Also, it is weighted? I saw a few with a bead head, but the Orvis photo is without. Just trying to figure out if I should wind some weight into the body.

SS-280 · Location: New Jersey

Looks like you have gotten some great suggestions so far. As for the green wenie I tie them both with and without weight. I also tie them with black of peacock heads.

As for midges/diptera I would bring some als rat a midge pattern basically brn thread body with an muskrat head. I would also tie some diamond midges basically black thread on a hook with a silver rib and black thread head. If you are interested in bringing up your midge game I would check out Ed Kotch book Midge Magic as it is truely amazing and a great resource it is basically the midge fisherman’s version of hatches.

I would also bring some zuddler if I were you in both black and white that could be my number one streamer.

btw bring some anorexic olives or tinny emerging olives also.

Matt1515 · Location: Greensboro, NC

I've had alot of success with a black midge with a white foam parachute. They are one of my favorites. Also, I "created" one that is basically black thread abdomen with one strand of white small thread wound up to look like segments. I add a grey ball of dubbing for the thorax with two pieces of flashabou for wings tied behind the ball. On a 20-24 hook, this one is a killer. If I can get some good photos, I'll post a picture. It really does look like an adult. I will check out that book. I've heard it is good but haven't had a chance to pick it up.

SS-280 · Location: New Jersey

chromefinder · Location: Southeast PA

lunchbox · Location: Utah

In the winter, just like any other season, you need to match the insect that are available to the fish. This means that during the winter small midges, crustaceans (scuds, sowbugs), and annelids (small worms) are going to be the primary food base for the fish. Water levels are usually low and clear so you will have the best success fishing small midges and scuds in small sizes (16-24) on light tippet (5X-7X). Fish are cold blooded so as water temperatures drop, so will the activity level of the trout. Feeding lanes generally get more narrow, and the fish tend to hold close to the stream bottom because friction slows the current down 1/3 compared to surface currents. The fish will be able to expend fewer calories this way. Laymens terms - nymphing small midge pupa (zebra midge, brassies, discos, black beauties) and scuds on light tippets in slower deeper water will produce best. Cover every square inch on a preice of water because the fish are feeding in such narrow lanes. Sometimes it may take 100 casts in an area, then boom! fish on. "Junk food" (eggs, san juan worms, bighorn shrim) work very well in the winter as well. After fall spawning seasons eggs can be one of the most abundant trout food in some rivers during the fall. A single egg has many times more protein than nymphs of roughly the same size.

MarshallD · Location: Naples, Fl

If I only had ONE fly in to fish Trout in winter, it wlould be the Black Egg-Sucking Leech. I want the largest fish for my energy spent. Sure, there's lots of fun to be had with small flies....but I remember catching so many larger Trout on the ESL. Take one or more along and fish it deep and slowly. Good luck. Cool

marshalld

Matt1515 · Location: Greensboro, NC

Here's my report- one 4" rainbow and frozen fingers. The temp was in the negatives at first light. Warmed up to a scorching 15 degrees by 1:00 and stayed there. There was ice covering all but the fast water. Also, the chunks of ice floating down made it impossible to mend well. Was limited to high sticking for 3 days. Had several nibbles but no commitments. Got the most reaction from the greenie weenie (whitch by the way has a permanant place in my boxes now), midges, pheasant tails, and chartruse buggers. I have a feeling the frozen leader plopping down on the water was more the reason for not catching many than the fly selection. I even tried 8x tipped and that didn't work either. I would cast it once and it would snapp on the backcast because of the weight of the ice frozen to it. The sun was out and the scenery was beautiful despite the slim action. Had a great time and saw my alma mata win the semifinals to get to the division 1 AA Championship for the second year in row! Go Mounatineers!

Jesse · Posted: Mon 12/11/06 11:03 pm Post subject:

Matt- I used to live in Fayetteville when I was in the Army and drove through Greensboro all the time to fish the Smith. I can't say I fished many small streams but if you ever need some tailwater patterns/techniques shoot me a message!

greg · Posted: Thu 12/17/09 11:26 am Post subject: Stones and nymphs

I have been doing a lot of winter trout fishing last year and this year for sea run Browns , Brookies and Browns. I use small black stones flies, 18-24 bead head nymps. Various color bead head zebra nymphs. The Alexandra wet fly, dead drifted. These are my go to winter patterns.

cizekj · Location: Czech republic

Hi
Cold Water want only good colour and size flies.Good colours are pink,white and size is 10 - 12. This is for nymphs.

greg · Posted: Tue 01/19/10 10:19 am Post subject: The most successful fly!!

Last Sunday, cold day, chuck and I went fishing at a local river. The river was at an excellent level and I started with Nymphs, as I was changing for the third time I looked down stream and chucks rod was bent half way to the cork. He was fishing an "Alexandra" tied on a size 8 and fished like a wet fly. This fly has caught more fish for us, in the small sizes, than anything else this winter. I believe it represents a stone? in the smaller wet fly sizes.

stoneyfly · Location: Rocky Mountains

New to this forum, but my go to flies this time of year is a #22 to #32 Snow Midge and #22 WD40 in Grey, Olive and Black. Zebras also.

FishTank · Location: NE PA

Where I'm at in Ne Pa, right now the day time temps are, and have been in the 20's. Not really worth getting after trout due to the fly rod icing up. However, once the water temps get into the hi 30's-low 40's, and after a week of sunlight cooking the shallow runs, the monsters prowl at night. I'm talking about the Lackawanna river I grew up on.

If the afore mentioned conditions with upper 30degF water and sunlight for a few days occur, I don't start fishing until the sun hits the horizon and will leave the water well after dark sometimes around 2am. Big browns, if they are feeding, come out at night especially in the winter. My fly arsenal is 6" deceivers in black, clousers to 3" in dace colors, and woolybuggers with clouser eyes.

I fish them on the swing with a big downstream mend and present them broadside to the fish. They usually get hammered coming around as the mend straightens.

If I have night time temps above freezing, and water temps around 38degF, I fish from sunset til 3am with the big stuff on the 5wt. Night time flyrodding is the bomb for monsters!!!
Cool