Are you ready for some blizzard? (Picture from weather.com)
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Winter fly-fishing trips are always interesting. To make yours a success, advance preparation is necessary. This article describes the advance legwork you can do.
On a typical winter's day in NW Connecticut, there is 25-degree air temperature, 35-degree water temperature and a nasty North wind gusting to about 20 mph. The night-before preparation involves several main elements that include rigging, clothes layering, boots, and research on conditions. Advance preparation saves you aggravation and cold hands when you get started fishing.
Winter nymph fishing is often good, even in slush, when this fine rainbow came to net. (A. Barthelemy)
Winter trout often hold in the slower stream margins, calling for an indicator nymphing rig. A fully rigged 10ft rod may not fit in a car assembled, but two 2-piece sections (one with reel attached) do. It pays to prepare your leader in advance. A suitable leader, produced by Frog Hair, is readily available at your local fly shop. The Frog Hair leader, the Great Lakes Steelhead model, has a thick butt section to allow easy roll casting with an indicator, followed by a long thin piece of tippet for dead drift. Egg fly fishing in the Great Lakes is similar to the style that is often productive for trout fishing. The Frog Hair leader comes in 5 - 2X with corresponding butt diameters from 0.023 - 0.025 inch. These 9.5 foot leaders allow for excellent leader turnover, even when nymphing with heavy tandem rigs.
To weight your rig, use Dinsmore tin shot. This green-painted shot is made from environmentally friendly tin and is harder than lead. The hardness makes the shot less prone to snags due to being wedged in rocks.
The tippet itself often contains two flies, with the second dropper tied to the eye of the first hook. Fly selection is simple, and a suitable tandem is a cased caddis in size 12 along with a size 16 caddis larva. The lowly, practical sub-surface caddis offerings often produce in the winter.
When properly equipped, winter fly-fishing is productive and tolerable. (A. Barthelemy)
For the indicators, prepare two fluffy yarn devices, and treat them at home first with Watershed and let dry, then with silicone-based Mucilin. While you fish, make sure you fluff the indicators repeatedly to ensure good floatation and sensitivity.
Based on numerous recommendations from friends and a podcast by nymphing guru Larry Tullis, a Sage Z-Axis 10 foot 5 weight is ideal for winter fishing. You may consider customizing the rod grip and reel seat to accommodate a slightly larger reel, but this is part personal preference. On the rod itself, apply copious amounts of Stanley’s Ice-Off Paste. It pays to apply the material both inside the guides and along the blank, and this reduces ice build-up, at least for a while. The waxy paste also makes ice removal far easier.
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