Winter Nymphing

Winter nymphing has it's benefits. Obviously you're likely to find your favorite spots open and not a soul around. More importantly though, warmer days can yield some great success. We like to tight line it, or euro nymph as the cool kids say. It's deadly effective especially when fish are sluggish and the takes are very subtle. You have to really pay attention to your line though as the most subtle of takes can be missed if your looking around during each drift. It helps to know where to cast; looking for deeper slow pools will usually reward you. Dont overlook sunning areas though. I've found quite a few fish in the winter hanging out in the shallows along sandy shoulders where they can catch some winter time rays. The one thing I'm looking for though is depressions in the run. Whether it be a sudden drop off in the sand or a nice boulder creating a pocket below the surface of the water. Fish dont want to expend a lot of energy, they want easy access to food and safety. In the winter they are less likely to chase down a big nymph or streamer. So keeping an eye out for where fish can just put their fins up and relax is a good motto. It's got to be a place where food is delivered though. That is exactly what I was looking for this January day; I found two deeper pools I focused my time on. Both brought me fish and both were deeper areas where a fish could just hang out and not fight the current trying to track down food. There was a drop off in the run and a fish in the drop off, multiple fish actually. These drop off's or depressions bring food right to the fish. As always in the winter you want to spend a little more time in each run, so you make sure you've covered it with each cast before moving on. There are fish in there and they will eat, sometimes we just assume there not biting or theres no fish. Make adjustments to your rig as needed and get the fly down along the bottom and try to get the seam where your fly will go right through their buffet line, they'll eat!