Nymphs, droppers should take over in winter
During cold spells, when steams are icy cold and hatches are fewer, trout feed more below the surface than above. The action may be slower and less exciting than dry-fly fishing. But the quality of the fish usually is just as good. Fish have to eat regardless of the weather or stream conditions.
Dry-fly fishing usually is limited to the warmest part of the day in the winter, between noon and 2 p.m., when and if, the sun is on the water. Nymph fishing is slower. It requires more finesse than dry-fly fishing, but you can fish them all day. Strikes often can be difficult to detect. So a strike indicator or dropper rig will improve your odds. Concentrate on the slower water in the deeper sections of a pool. The numbers may be fewer, but you’ll find a better quality of fish.
Roger Lowe of Waynesville, a veteran fly-fisher and former guide, often uses a dry fly pattern such as Royal Wulff as a strike indicator and a bead-head nymph as a dropper during the winter.
“The nymph should be small enough so that it doesn’t drag the dry fly down,” he said.
Lowe ties a section of leader to the shank of the dry fly so that the dropper dangles about a foot below.
Dead-drifting is a good technique during cold spells
One technique used by many veteran mountain trout fishers is to dead-drift a weighted nymph. The nymph is cast upstream, and allowed to drop slowly to the bottom of a pool or run. Then, the angler stips it in short spurts.
Willie Cope of Sylva, who guides in Great Smoky Mountains National Park streams, is a proponent of dead-drifting.
“You have to watch for trout when you’re dead-drifting,” Cope said. “If you see a trout following the fly but not taking it, freeze. If the trout starts to turn away, give the line a jerk. That will make the trout think that the nymph is trying to escape. And the trout usually will strike,” he said.
Dead-drifting a nymph through a deep hole or run usually will get a strike,” Cope said. “Suspend a nymph 3 to 6 inches above the bottom of a stream bed and let it drift through runs and riffles. Pay close attention to the drag and the effects it has on your drift,” he said. “The less drag, the better you’ll do. This is where mending line really comes into play.”
Lowe prefers big nymphs in the winter, sizes 10, 8, even 6.
“I’ll cast a large nymph such as a Woolly Booger across the current. When the line straightens out, I lower the rod tip and work the nymph through the water in short strips. It’s important to keep the rod tip down so that the nymph will stay deep,” he said. “Sometimes, you have to keep casting to the same place to get a strike. Keep your presentation slow to give the trout more time to study the fly.”
Unseasonably warm days call for other types of fishing
Some trout fishers prefer a weighted nymph rather than a bead-head. One technique is to add lead weight about 6 inches above the fly to give the nymph bounce. Others crimp the weight on top of the fly to get it down to the bottom of a pool.
“Weather, more than anything else, dictates the quality of fishing,” Lowe said, “and the time of day when you’re fishing is more important than the pattern you use.”
Once the sun drops below the tree tops, water temperature drops quickly, and trout hunker in to wait out the cold.
Not all winter fishing is limited to nymphs, however. Warm, sunny winter days can produce small but productive hatches of midges and, periodically, Blue-Winged Olives, which can be found on mountain streams almost any time of the year.
For winter dry-fly fishing, patterns should be small, nothing larger than a No. 20 or 18.
Recommended patterns are Zug Bug, Woolly Booger, Hare’s Ear, Secret Weapon, Girdlebug, Prince, Brown Stone, Dark Stone, Pheasant Tail and Stick Bait.
Winter has its drab, cold spells, but it also has beautiful warm, sunny days that make trout fishing a pleasure.
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