Masterclass: 10 Secrets for Cold-Season Success

I fish larger patterns, especially nymphs, during the cold season. This sound counterintuitive since many immature insects, such as mayflies and caddis, are still growing and often nowhere near the size they are when hatching during spring and summer. While insect sizes are often smaller during the cold season, their activity and movement is less, so their importance as a food source is also less. And because there are less insects drifting (except for midges and olives) with these smaller immature insects, I find trout are more willing to eat larger meals during the cold season—meaning trout don’t have the almost constant food supply of drifting nymphs as they do during the spring/early summer months (at least in central Pennsylvania), when most of these insects are hatching. I don’t have empirical data to back this up but my experience over the last 30-plus years fishing cold weather has suggested that trout are willing to eat larger-than-average nymph and streamer patterns during this time. And this is a good thing since cold weather creates a challenge for tying on small flies with frozen hands. Both natural and flashy looking patterns, including larger Czech and Polish grub-style nymphs and rubber-legged stoneflies make up a large portion of my cold-season box. Sizes range from 6 through 12 and may contain fluorescent-colored beads to act as additional attractors.

Of course, egg patterns are deadly during spawning times, but for me, the magic of the incredible egg continues into the dead of winter—long after the spawn. And orange is by far my most productive color to fish. This cold-season pattern selection came by accident. After one of my first Lake Erie steelhead trips (over 20 years ago) my box was bulging with glo-bug patterns, so I decided to use up them on my local trout waters. No logical reasoning, just a case of not wanting to let all my tying efforts go to waste. Long story short, I couldn’t get over the aggressive strikes as the resident brown trout charged the drifting egg, despite the frigid February temperatures—two months after the spawn.

 Since that day, the orange egg is a “junk” fly I always carry. I still have no explanation for why it works, but it does, and that’s all I need to know. Normally, I’ll use a single orange egg while fishing low-and-clear cold-season conditions but switch immediately to a larger orange mop pattern when dealing with higher/off color conditions. There’s something special about orange eggs and mops for me during the cold season.

As I wrote in my previous article for Fly Fusion, “Slow Grinding Streamers,” presentation speed and position in water column plays a huge role in getting fish to commit during cold periods. In other words, create a slow moving/low hanging fruit trout can’t resist. Drop-shot rigs place split shot at tippet’s end while fly patterns (nymphs or streamers) hang on dropper tags above the shot. The shot slides or drags along stream bottom while the patterns slowly drift with the current.

When frigid water temps occur, a decline in a trout’s feeding frequency follows. One solution during these cold periods is to slow down, sometimes even hold, a pattern close to a trout’s position, and this is where excessive weight allows you to stall out your presentation. In other words, placing too much weight on tippet’s end acts as anchor, stopping the rig from freely drifting. To move the rig, place tension by pulling with the rod tip. In other words, you drag the shot along stream bottom at a slower speed. And sometimes I’ll stall or stop the rig in a sexy looking section, where the shot anchors to stream bottom, allowing the flies (tied on droppers) to flutter in the current for an extended period. Stalling a rig often becomes too much for the trout to refuse (remember-low hanging fruit). Whether it’s aggression or hunger, this antagonizing (in-your-face) presentation produces results when all other drifting tactics fail. This works with both nymphs and streamers. I feel the key is to fish lightweight patterns, so they can flutter, so this means staying away from most heavy cone and beadhead patterns.  Currently, I’ve been using Flymen’s Micro Game Changers in combination with a drop-shot rig when streamer fishing slow, deep pools. Basically, you’re nymphing a streamer with a drop-shot rig. What I love about the micro changer (in combo with the drop shot) is how well it moves in combination with a stalled-out rig. It’s not as much fun as ripping and stripping, but sometimes it’s the only way.

Within the same spectrum as the drop shot rig, I like to slow down and fish streamer patterns deeper during the colder seasons. When using traditional streamer tactics (i.e. casting and retrieving) with floating, sink-tips, or full-sinking lines, mending creates slack, allowing the streamer to sink closer to the strike zone before beginning the retrieve. This process of creating slack through mending is necessary during cold snaps. Using upstream mending tactics creates slack, allowing the rig to achieve greater depths before beginning the retrieve. Remember, sometimes you must bring the fight to the fish.

The slack often allows the streamer to drop vertically (especially when using a weighted pattern). This is a good thing, but there’s a disconnect for a brief period. And if you’re fishing drab colored patterns, the strikes will go both unseen and unfelt. By drab I mean patterns you can’t see in the water. This sacrificial period is necessary for working streamers deeper, but a loss of strike detection occurs as the streamer drops, before stripping in the excessive slack and retrieving the pattern. Any fallen pattern (streamer or nymph) is one of the deadliest presentations out there yet most strikes go unregistered due to the slack. The slack creates a loss of strike detection, causing a loss of feeling during the falling of the patterns, so the only way to know when to set the hook is by sight. This is where brightly colored patterns come in. Basically, you set the hook when the fly disappears, since you can’t feel the strike.

I learned this approach from countless bass anglers but find it works brilliantly with trout. There’s something appealing about vertically dropping prey to any fish, and I feel so many strikes go unseen due to fishing drab colored patterns, when slack occurs after mending. Yes, some conditions dictate fishing drab-colored streamers deep. But when conditions allow for brighter colored streamers, do it! You’ll be surprised how many trout during cold season will jump on a fallen streamer. It’s an easy meal that even the most lethargic trout can’t resist. Seeing is believing.

I’m not an entomologist but I do know water temperatures affect timing of hatches. During the colder seasons I believe locating sections of river receiving highest concentrations of sunlight through the day may experience earlier hatching periods than those receiving less. I’ve compared previous journal entries, describing where and when I’ve seen my best cold season hatches, and most of the data confirms my most memorable cold-season hatch experiences (mostly midges and olives) occurred in areas of greater sunlight concentration. Looking at variables including sunrise/sunset, mountain/cliff height, along with the narrowness of the valley you’re fishing should provide a starting point for locating the hatching hotbed during the colder seasons. Sometimes you can use this information to start fishing locations where hatches will occur first, then move to another location where the timing of the hatch may be staggered due to a delay in sunlight intensity. It does happen. Incidentally, I use this exact information when seeking colder water during the height of our hot summers. Meaning, I do the exact opposite to locate colder water.

If I had to choose a time to fish large streamers for brown trout during the cold season, it would be approximately two weeks after brown trout spawn. There appears to be a lull (a break in action if you will) immediately after trout spawn. After two weeks, it’s been my experience trout make up for lost meals in a short period of time. Furthermore, I’ve had some of my best days, fishing big streamers, during this time. When I say “best” days, I mean fish that commit to eating the fly, not numbers of fish chasing my streamer.

Fishing streamers on the front end of the spawn should result in countless chases, but I find trout are more territorial during this period. Meaning, trout are chasing the streamer away rather than trying to eat it. You’ll see a lot more fish following your fly before and during the spawn, but you’ll catch more fish approximately two weeks after the spawn. Post-spawn fish tend to have higher commitment rates for eating streamers, at least according to my experience. I enjoy the visual thrill of a trout charge, but I love the feel of the tug more. Give it two weeks.

Hand functions decrease as the air temps plummet. The inability to hold patterns in your hand when attaching tippet is now a common occurrence for my 40-year-old hands. I’ve accidentally buried several large streamers in my hand—the result of my numb index finger and thumb losing grip while pulling on my clinch knot. Never happened before my 40s but it does now. Even worse, the loss of dexterity in my fingers while attempting to create a clinch knot by twisting the tag around the main line. They lock tight and refuse to move. It’s like one of those nightmares when someone is attacking you with a weapon but there’s some invisible force holding your hands back from defending yourself. It’s absolute maddening.

Using forceps will reduce these frustrations. Gripping the hook bend with pliers (keeping the plane of the forceps in line with the hook shank) creates a better hold on the fly. Instead of holding on fly, you’re now holding onto the forceps. The enhanced grip allows you pull tippet to fly knots tight without the worry of accidently letting go of the fly and piercing your hands with the hook point.

When tying the clinch knot, allow the pliers to hang vertically and spin the forceps around five to seven times—just as you would wrapping the short tag around the main line when using your hands to tie the clinch. Then push the short tag through the open loop, in front of the hook eye, and cinch the knot. Using forceps to tie a clinch has been my saving grace when weather put my fingers on strike.