February Fishing Report

The weather has been great this month. I’ve gotten to fish and float a good bit and the fishing is good. The Mile, Fremont area, after bay, and the Reef are all fishing great. We still haven’t had any snow so getting around is easy. The reef is open all the way through and below town. The upper river has been fishing great. I’ve mostly been swinging my skagit head around. I’ve been using a 5 weight 9’ sage method with a 225 OPST commando head with a 2.5 float/7.5 T8 MOW tip. The other day I got 18 grabs floating Reef to Lusby. There are some great swing runs right now and the lack of wind has made this month awesome so far. I pretty much have gotten so lazy that I just leave that previously mentioned MOW tip on all winter and it works everywhere. I can vouch for that one. At 450 and 500 CFS it works just fine. Some spots maybe mend it a bit more, some spots not at all. I have been using a tan and white fly that is marabou, craft fur, ostrich, strand of peacock on top with some wraps of guinea at the head and some flashabou throughout the belly. It has been my best fly for swinging this winter. I have also been using a black and yellow sparser version that sometime seems to work better first thing in the morning before I switch to the tan and white. I left some pictures of them below, they are nothing crazy inventive but god damn do they work.

I spend most of my time swinging fence run, lower cable below ledge creek and gravel pit (run just above beaver). Those are the best runs for swinging on the upper reef. By the Richners ranch the public enemy run can be a good one too. Miller time is worth swinging on river right below the big beaver dam hole at the top right of the run. It’s been swinging good at 450 lately. Lusby on river right can be good too. It’s easier to cast on river right and I have just always done better standing on that side. The long shelf at the top of Chicago corner is a great spot that’s usually out of the wind too. Other than those, if I ever just go wade fishing for a bit I’m probably swinging the pump run a bit down from chalk bluff. That’s a great run if you only have time to swing one run but wanna get outta town a bit. It’s a perfect spot and it’s usually out of the wind. Then a ways further down below the bates creek confluence I will spend time at the run downstream with a pump at the far bottom on river right. I never have really heard that run called a specific name but it’s the one again with the pump at the very bottom on river right. I am a good ways swinging up above the pump where the run still have good current. However the run we call gravel pit (just above beaver hole) has been my favorite I always get a hand full of grabs in it, and it swings perfectly. It is pictured below.

I really only use just one hook for my trout Spey flies anymore. I left a picture of them below. If you have ever gotten to actual watch Phlies swing in front of trout or steelhead. And by that I mean actually look down from above on a tree, big rock or bridge, you’ll know how often fish can just barely nip at the very rear of the fly and not actually get a hook in its mouth. Considering this I have really been on the hunt for a small but stout octopus hook that is small enough to get a hook up even with a subtle soft strike. This is probably the best one I have found. Don’t use big hooks, you’ll miss fish.

I have stopped and nymphed a bit and whenever I have it couldn’t have been a whole lot easier to crush em. I’ve even been doing really well just by myself rowing and fishing at the same time. Its been that easy. So if you really just want to go whack the shit outta them, now’s a good time with the good weather. There hasn’t been much of a bug bite. All you really need is an annelid, San Juan, rusty scud or a leech. Don’t overthink it. Remember its February and even though it’s been crazy warm, they still really want to eat mostly from 11 to 4. The lower river has been fishing fairly slow. I think Andy got a huge one somewhere down below but other than that everyone who I’ve talked to has said it’s been slow. Now having said that, I’m sure you could find a day where it is fishing good on the lower, I just haven’t done it lately. I would happily go float anywhere around town or lower and throw streamers all day. I don’t see why you couldn’t find a big brown.

Fremont has been fun. I usually fish it a good bit with my dogs in January. I love when no one’s there. Its been fishing ok for me. I haven’t really had a remarkable day yet this year. I did have a couple of days of amazing dry fly days in December, but so far this year it’s just been so so nymphing for me. It still can be fun to go up there and enjoy having the whole place to yourself this time of year.

I haven’t been to the mile at all. The road is wide open I haven’t just been to lazy to drive that far. But I bet it’s fishing good. Streamer fishing can be really fun during this month and the nymphing is usually productive if you stick with it. Probably worth going up there, especially since there is no snow.

Overall the weather is great and fishing is good. There’s a lot of fun stuff to go do right now and you can take advantage of off season rates but still get top notch fishing.

End of year, 2025 the year of the Perdigon, and also the year there was a naked chick at chalkbluff everyday, merry phishmass.

I as very lucky to tag along with some friends to Kay Fly fishing lodge in Punta Allen. We had about as bad of a week of weather as you can get but we still had a blast. We flew into Cancun spent the night then drove four hours south to the giant national park. There at the entrance of the national park we got extorted for about 60 bucks even though we had the appropriate passes. After arguing with Juan we gave him 60 bucks told him to fuck off and we were on our way. A few more miles down the bumpy national park to road I realized that I was on Mexico’s version of the road to the miracle mile. It was a pot holed nightmare just like the one in my backyard. We eventually got to a small dock in the mangroves where we waited for our hour and half boat ride to Punta Allen. Lily the owner of Kay Fly was casting a ten weight with her 10 year old son on the dock when we pulled up. We basically got a grand tour of Allen on our short ride to the lodge. Before you even arrive you can tell you’rein the right spot for saltwater fly fishing.

Fucking things are hard to catch

Unfortunately due to the weather, we really only ended up getting our first day to do serious permit fishing. Fortunately coach Steve and I both landed one on our first day. The rest of the week had crazy 30 mph plus wind and cloudy rainy skies. We spent it catching bonefish, snook, and barracuda. I caught at least 60 bonefish in a week and that wasn’t even our focus. Our primary goal of the trip was to try to catch a permit on a floating crab or shrimp. It has become a major focus of anglers fishing Ascension Bay. There isn’t a go to rag head or Merkin pattern that has been developed for it though. It’s anybodies guess. So the day we had to hang at the lodge due to high winds, I had a lot of fun with my good buddy Nick from Westbank Anglers tying up what we thought would work. Unfortunately we didn’t truly get to try them out. But catching lots of bonefish and snook wasn’t exactly a bad time. The guides knew where to get out of the wind and work with the shitty conditions. We still had an awesome time. My favorite part of the trip was asking our guide Tino “how deep is it here?”. All guides hate this constantly asked question and I spent a good hour with our guide Tino laughing about it. I had such an amazing time relating to the guides at Kay Fly.

Coach Steve with his first permit and holy shit it was a good one

It really showed me that guides are the same everywhere. After everyday the guides had their round table to sit around, smoke, drink and laugh at stupid shit just like we do in Wyoming. It was just as fun laughing about guiding with the guides around the round table as being out on the boat fishing with them. I’m happy that I’m almost 40 and can look back at all my bad decisions and feel so good about all of them. I love being a guide and getting to hang out with the guides at Kay Fly made me realize how lucky I am to be a guide.

I really can’t recommend Kay Fly enough. The lodge is very cozy, food is great, and the guides are amazing. Ascension bay is very special place and Kay Fly is the perfect way to experience it.

The Spey fishing has been great lately

Before I get into the annual review I’d like to do a quick update on current fishing in Alcova. The weather has been terrible. It’s been 60 degreees most days but the wind has been easily over 30 mph almost all of December. The fishing is good though. I’ve been mostly going out for hour and a half long Spey/swing sessions and the fish were grabbing a swung brown pine squirrel leech pretty dang good. I just use a Sage Method 5 weight with a 225 grain OPST head with a 10 foot MOW tip (5 feet of floating and 5 feet of T8). If I had to pick one MOW tip or really any tip/versileader it would be that one. It just works everywhere. I also like using a single hand rod more because it’s less rod to ice up when it does get cold. Another one of my favorite ways to fish is using a heavy jig fly, usually some form of a leech or bugger and just jig the bottom of the river. That can work shockingly well some days. I’m not exaggerating when I say you can catch more jigging then just a regular dead drift with a nymph set up. The mile has some nice big browns in it but they are still spawning so most of us usually leave that alone. I did spend a day up in the canyon though and it is pretty easy to catch bright fish if your a gentlemen or lady about it and stay off the beds. There are ALOT of rainbows up there too. Now when it comes to the reef I don’t think too many people have been floating the reef, I can’t emphasize how almost all of December has been horrible with the wind. I’m sure it’s fishing well, and remember you really want to be fishing from 11 till 230, that will probably be the best bite. I personally am focused on either jigging with a 6 weight or just wade fishing and casting my Spey set up. The nymphing can be good but it’s not how I would try to catch them right now.

Remember to be careful where you fish on the mile and stay off the reds. The mile browns spawn all the way into January.

Ok end of year review time!

Another year rolls by and we’re here at Christmas. It was a great year here but I do have to say it was the year of little fish. We have be seeing the success of Wyoming Game and Fish’s exhaustive stocking efforts. The river is absolutely loaded with fish. Andh boy did the little fish make themselves known. It proved to be a bit of a downside this year though. Basically a lot of the days it was tough to not catch 50 little fish. They were everywhere. There was no secret rig or food source that would just magically catch just the bigger older fish, you really just had to fish hard and catch what you’re gonna catch. However, we did rely on a big crane fly we call the pickle, which is basically Charlie cravens olive crane fly nymph. Seth was fishing that as a big aquatic moth larvae, honestly I forget what that moth is called but when Seth says anything we treat it as the gospel. So we fished the hell outta that thing. The good old thin mint was good for bigger guy too as usual. And every year we basically have to figure out what color or crayfish patterns is gonna be the one. This year an orange and tan zurdle was the heismann. The green back orange belly zurdle worked wonders in June but as the summer stretched on the orange and tan pattern proved to be top dog. I did have a couple of good days on the closer crayfish under a bobber floating closer to Casper but the zurdle was usually the winner. So that’s what most of us were doing to try to target bigger fish. They worked well for varsity but it was still a battle against JV fish every day. The biologist here say that grey reef fish usually grow 3 inches a year here so we are all pretty excited for the next few years. All in and all, these stocking efforts should result in some awesome fishing and get our fish numbers back up above 4,000 fish per mile.

2025 was a fun year

2025 was the year of the perdigon. I have never seen everybody use them like they did this year. 10 plus years ago when I guided in Montana all we did was fish tungsten headed droppers. The word perdigon would get thrown around occasionally but it was really just Duracell and frenchie variations everyone who knew what was up was fishing. Eventually you started hearing “Duracell”, and “frenchie” being mentioned in every fly shop across the country. I remember fishing one of Jake Wallbridges patterns 15 years ago that he called the chubby chaser. I religiously used it around the Bozeman area. It was basically a Duracell with a marabou tail, but man oh man did we think we could solve all the world’s problems with that fly. He was an amazingly creative and hungry fishing guide from Michigan that I learned a lot from. He really elevated my confidence in heavy ass nymphs that 100% increased my fishiness. As much of a secret as we acted like these flies were, in reality they were really just tungsten headed nymphs. If you ever want the best guide in Montana, call up Montana Troutfitters in Bozeman and ask for “ Wally”. Today every tom dick and harry knows what a Frenchie is. I actually worked for Betsy French when I guided in Montana, and I’m pretty sure her husband not lance egan actually invented the Frenchie. But I really don’t know. But we all had a huge takeaway this year. Weighted flies can work wonders. It actually turned into a crutch for everyone. The Platte has always been a split shot river. But this year everyone was seeing the benefits of nymphing weighted flies in addition to split shot. Black and purple were the two colors. We religiously fished them this year. The olive Spanish bullet saw some good days too but it was mostly the black and purple that really fired. I will be tying at least a hundred of each this winter.

Fremont fished great.

Fremont fished great this year. Nothing particularly noteworthy or different happened that I saw but it fished well. I did see a monster 10 lbs fish in the canyon this year. I’m pretty sure we caught every fish in the hole except him. Every time we’d get a drift towards him a 17 incher would get in the way. Eventually he got annoyed and disappeared. Goes to show there are still monsters in there.

The most wild thing of 2025 was the naked chick who was camping at chalkbluff for a little over a week. Everyday you’d see her walking around butt ass naked. She’d even come down to the river and say hello. Crazy Daisey. That was something else.

We did have good hatches of all our old reliables. PMD’s, yellow sallies, baetis, caddis and Trico’s all gave us good steady nymphing May through September. June and July were really consistent, with great streamer fishing. I really enjoyed August this year. August everywhere across the Rockies can be a frustrating month. High water temps, slow or no bug activity, and the fish are not eating much. But for us in Alcova it never got too hot and we didn’t have to worry about high water temps. Fish were happy. I mostly fished dry dropper to the banks and shallow riffles where we would find big fish on the dropper. Just a regular old Duracell was the one for me. Frenchie had its moments too but I definitely leaned on the Duracell pretty hard. Unfortunately we didn’t get the greatest hopper fishing but I did get to watch a few really big ones go for it. While that was anticlimactic most days, the dropper still made it exciting and I really think it worked better than nymphing did most days.

September dry fly sessions were awesome this year.

September had some insane dry fly days. Everything from the reef dam down to Bessemer had days and sections of fabulous dry fly fishing. The Trico hatch was great and the big fish got really keyed into the Trico dun’s. I stuck with my normal set up most days. Parachute Adams, renegades, Keller’s Rocky Mountain variant, and black Trico spinners were all you needed. As usual the first cast was crucial, but I did have a lot of sessions where the big trout would eat repeatedly and give anglers multiple chances. The most important thing for me as a guide was knowing WHEN to be where. The dry fly bite was usually around 9ish to 1130. There were days it lasted a bit longer almost all day but it was usually a late morning thing. I ended up stalling a lot in the morning in some of my favorite spots so people could sight fish to bigger fish. I just love waiting around for a hatch to start popping. Thankfully it was fairly reliable this September which made my job much easier, but ya still had to know when to be where for maximum enjoyment. It really is another whole level of fun when it’s so visual and you can pick out the alpha fish from the pod. My favorite thing about these hatches is really being able to see all the big fish still in the river. As I said before the freshmen class was annoying a lot of the year, so seeing how many big fish we still have the river was inspiring.

Seth with the biggest of the year, a hair over 30” taken on a sunken Trico.

October was good but our usually consistent period of dry fly fishing October 8 through the 20th was pushed back a bit. Instead of that window it really was more October 20th through mid November. The weather was fantastic. We didn’t get the usual Halloween storm and the bugs lasted till mid November. There were a lot of good November days especially on the lower river below town. The streamer fishing was awesome in the fall too. Casting kreelex’s and any minnow patterns into the pods of risers always gets a blow up. I absolutely hate when people do this. I’m all about the dry fly eats so I violently hate when all my friends just want to streamer fish. It literally kills me and part of my soul dies every time. It is a blast though and a really fun way to fish. The Platte is a great fall fishery, barely anybody around and lots of feeding fish. It’s also nice to spend some time on the lower river when it’s fishing well. I have a lot of people who have floated the Platte for years who haven’t got to see the lower river. It’s a nice change and your usually looking for bigger fish over just numbers. This year late May and early June had some really great days and then all fall long was good too. Let me know if you ever want to mix if up and check it out.

Streamer fishing was exceptionally good this year!

While we are talking about streamer fishing I must say that 2025 was a phucking awesome year for dragging streamers around. May through July was consistent. All of us at the reef fly shop and NPL had good streamer fishing. It wasn’t just me. Hooley was dominating as usual, Mason was beating them up, and Tuna was on the prowl with zurdles. Black sex dungeon was a big hit this year. Hooley really figured that out and pretty soon it’s all any of us were fishing. Trombones, Goldie’s, thin mints did the trick too. I brought the sparkle minnow back into rotation this year as well. In May I had some awesome days on the lower river, through town and below. It would get 20 eats or so a day. I don’t know why I ever stopped fishing that fly. So don’t be an idiot like me and fish the phuck outta that thing.

Barefoot in the sand flats, surrounded by mountains sight fishing. Carp fishing might be favorite thing about Wyoming.

The carp fishing was off the charts this year too. Pre spawn (May) through September was bonkers. For whatever reason this year the carp were very hungry. Lake levels were low so the wade fishing and boat fishing were both excellent. Most days we found many feeding carp that were happy to eat a well fished fly. I’ve really become a believer in darker flys. It’s not an absolute, but most of time I have more confidence in a darker fly. Think brown, black, olive. There are some patterns like the Great Lakes hammerhead pattern I do fish in white. The ankle biter is another that I like in a white. But darker flies a lot of the year work better for me. Jays back stabber in black is always a go to. Seth got me fishing balance leeches more this year than in years past. They don’t get caught on bottom much and produce eats. Brown or black were the colors for balanced leeches. For crayfish I use the reefs craydizzle (basically an olive clouded crayfish with furry foam for a back), whitlocks near nuff when I need something heavier for deeper water, an olive crawdak, and a lot of furry foam backed closer crayfish variations I tie. I will do an entire post on those later this winter with pictures. Strong arm merkins, black crazy Charlie’s (kinda small ones), and petersons spawning shrimp, and even flexo crabs worked too. I think I’m just being a dork but I think being in central Wyoming poling around on a flats skiff with saltwater flies is so cool. I know Jesus Christ, we are posers. I have gotten exponentially better at carp fishing the past few years and I’m really excited to take more people out to the lake. Carp on pathfinder are a really fun to puzzle to solve. You’ll see hundreds in an area for a week and it’ll be your honey hole and then you go back two days later and not see a single fish where there were once hundreds. While focusing on where the warm water is located is really important, it’s not everything. Knowing when to go to the miracle mile arm or the sweet water arm, canyon creek, or the bays directly below the Pedro mountains is crucial. Just cause the fish are there one day doesn’t mean they’ll be any two days later. Having the hog island skiff makes this easy though because we can zip around as needed. But the best aspect of carp is the sight fishing aspect. It’s just fun fishing and the fish fight hard. I hope you can come experience it.

Overall it was a good easy year here. I plan on pumping up carp trips for people. Basically if you’re coming for 3 or 4 days and go carping one day, I promise you’ll want to go do it again. It’s very addicting. Can’t really say what the snow levels are going to be. The whole country has had a mild winter especially in the Rockies, so hopefully it starts snowing soon. I’ll be around for all of this winter. Let me know if you want to come fish. There’s usually a lot of fun stuff we can do in the winter if the wind isn’t blowing.

Late winter report

Abby getting up in the meadow

We have had a lot of good weather this winter. Fishing has been very hit or miss on the reef though. Some days can be banging while others slow. I would mostly be chasing a good streamer day if I was going. The nymphing can be good but look for slow mornings and better afternoons. I’d stick with the normal worm, leech, egg and midge rigs. Fish the slow deep water ignore the skinnies unless you are hucking streamers. Be somewhere you really want to be or have confidence in for the afternoon when the bite will most likely be best. You might have to fish up to 7 or 8 feet deep and remember long drifts are key. Let your rig marinate, this is a balance between fishing on the bottom but not getting stuck or hung up down there. Pay attention to where you are hooking fish. Experiment on some shelves but realize that most of the fish are going to be in the major big buckets and holes.

If you’re throwing streamers, I have seen brown, yellow and black colors seem to be the hot ticket. Rusty trombone, Goldie’s and the old reliables can always work but mix it up. Hooley has been doing well with a brown and yellow double screamer. Sparkle minnows and kneelex’s will get it done too.

Tuna with a good one outta outhouse hole.

Upper mile is the place to be!

The slow and low technique I’ve outlined before is always a tactic worth trying throughout the winter but this winter hasn’t seen it to be the destroyer it has been in the past. Retrieving fast and more jerky seems to be moving more fish.

The mile has been fishing fairly well too. Still some big browns wintering in there along with the usual big rainbows. The upper section seems to be buggier and have more fish in it. I had particularly good luck in the canyon around 1:00. RS2’s and mayhems were the most productive to me. As usual worms, leeches and annelids can work too. I poked around the bottom most sections of river and fished it to no avail. I would focus on the upper river and fish heavy and deep.

Fremont canyon has been good too. I’ve been up there a good bit and I would say the fishing has been good but as with typical winter conditions it can be slow for periods of the day. I have hooked some hogs in the morning but the afternoons seem to have hungrier fish. Foam wings, RS2’s, zebra midges..would be a good idea. The worm bite can be pretty wacky up there too some days. I’ve hooked a lot of small fish on annelids while the bigger fish seem to want the goomie, and San Juan worms. Streamers can be good too especially swinging and tugging pine squirrel leeches around. Take advantage of the lack of anglers and cover water!

I got to float the South Fork two days ago and it fished pretty good. It was shockingly crowded but there’s still plenty of room to fish. We floated from the slide down to spring creek bridge. Most the bigger trout seem to be hanging around and suspending in the big eddy’s adjacent to the major tanks. There is hardly any current and while it is possible to get a nymph rig presented to them, the water is barely moving. So patience and good boat control is important. Clear eggs, annelids, midges and streamers were what worked best. The riffles didn’t seem to be holding a lot of fish…they seem very spread out. The south fork though is a weird winter fishery and you never know. I always try the riffles but if I’m not getting them in there I move on quickly and focus on the big eddies, soft edges and tail outs (especially the tail outs in the side channels). The streamer fishing has the potential to be good, and big fish can be chasing but it is very on and off. Black was our best color. The streamer eaters were definitely in certain water. On the big fast banks, or the side of the river with the most current (wherever the cut bank would be at high water), there are slow edges on the banks usually about half way to three quarters down the run. That is where we had the most luck.

Nick getting good in the side channels

Sounds like the Henry’s fork has some fish poking their heads up. I’m planning on heading there in a few days and let ya know how it’s fishing.

Winter 2025

So far we have had a mild and mellow winter. We are due for some crappy and windy weather. I am back in Georgia right now, but as of Dec. 15th, this is what’s happening!

My biggest brown this year came on a swing.

The Reef has been either really good or kind of crappy. Afternoons seem to be noticeably better. Pressure is down so I would be running the heat most of the day. Fish are back into their winter zones so concentrate in the meat and potatoes of the runs. The deep stuff! Worms, annelids, midges and egg sucking leeches. Probably around 0.8 grams or a AAA shot to about 5 maybe 6 feet. Remember it’s winter now so fish the winter water. Banks and skinny water aren’t holding that many fish right now, so unless your streamer fishing, I would stay in the deeper water. Moss has really cleared out on the upper sections and it is ALOT easier to get drifts in the fishy zones without constantly hooking moss. Don’t get out too early, enjoy the afternoons and remember the fish aren’t feeding heavily all day.

Streamer fishing can be good some days. I’ve been doing better with two small streamers, like a thin mint to a complex twist. I just don’t usually do to well on big stuff this time of year. M

Billy a guide from Jackson checking out the Mile for the first time.

The Mile has been its moody self lately. Some days all the fish seem to be on beds and then the next they are happy feeding in the runs. The browns are still spawning and this time of year hordes of Coloradoan’s make their way to the Mile to fish on redds. It’s sad but there’s no point in saying anything to them, you can’t argue with stupidity. There is a lot of bad etiquette and bad attitudes this time of year, I don’t want to hear any arguing on the situation it’s a cheesedick convention plain and simple. Alright that’s enough of me whining. The fishing can be fun. Eggs, annelids, midge larva like Juan’s pale ale and buckskins can be good. There’s definitely some big rainbows to chase too.

Billy with a banger!

My version of the North Platte Special.

The swing bite can be really fun. More and more Spey anglers have been enjoying the mile and some awesome fish have been taken on the swing! I usually fish a Hoh Bo Spey tied in trombone or Goldie colors. I also love putting a size 16 cdc pheasant tail behind these, that can work really well some days. Don’t dredge your swing, fish to fish that will move for your fly. If you want to scrape bottom just fish a single handed, it works better for that. Also remember that a lot of people don’t realize how much water your working if your swinging. Don’t be surprised if some bobber bros blow up your spot.

Apparently these guys are still hanging out…weird.

Hands down my favorite fishing lately has been Fremont. The meadow and canyon have been fishing great. Big hot fish. And all the days I was there I didn’t see another person, it was great. Eggs, all day mays, and annelids. Biggest thing I can recommend is not standing on top of what your fishing. Don’t be an idiot and think you have to fish 6X but then think standing a rod length away from your target doesn’t spook them. The fish are all shiny and angry. It’s such a cool place to fish when you’re the only one there. Again, afternoons are probably the best but sometimes there can be a good morning bite too.

Early Winter Snake Fishing Report

Winter is officially here!  If your looking to fish the Snake don’t be in a rush to get up early.  With the cold weather the best window for fishing is usually going to be in the afternoon when things warm up and the midges get moving around.  But life and colder water temperature’s are going to make the fish’s feeding windows a lot smaller.  A big thing to focus on is that if you find feeding fish don’t leave them.  Fish may be feeding one spot but others won’t have much going on, so stay put if your finding trout.  Nymphing will be the best bet most of the day.  Just because it’s cold dredging bottom with heavy rigs isn’t necessarily the key to success and whitefish can get in the way by doing this.  So try suspended rigs and really concentrate on major feeding lanes.  Soft inside edges can be great and remember the water is low and clear so don’t stand right on top of where you’re targeting.  Rubber legs with small pheasant tails, or zebra midges rigs are a great go to and whatever midge pattern you have confidence in!  Even San Juan worms are good too.  Small emerger’s with cdc or foam post to mimic emerging midges are reliable as well.  But remember put the emerger on behind or after a heavier fly so they ride higher in the water column where trout are looking for them.  Also start your drift upstream of your target area to avoid spooking fish when you rig hits the water.  

If you do see trout rising, try to slow down.  The fish are spookier then in warmer months.  Try to make your first few cast count and minimize unnecessary splashing.  Try small Adams, Grittiths gnat’s, renegades and RS2 trailers.  Small CDC flies that sit in the surface film can be deadly as the weather gets colder and trout are becoming more lethargic.  It’s helpful to put on a larger point fly with one of these smaller patterns trailing behind to help see what your doing better.  Dry dropper rigs can work great too for getting nymphs half way through the water column and sometimes they make less of a splash or ruckus when they hit the water then a big ole bobber.  

The biggest factor right now is time and place.  Finding feeding fish is key!  So get on the water later in the day afternoon and keep those eyes peeled in the soft water and sometimes tailouts for rising cutthroat!

Floating the Reef in the dead of winter

There are two

Winter Streamer Fishing

My man Charlie getting it done on the Mile with the low and slow streamer method!

From January to the end of February the tailwaters of the Miracle Mile & Grey’s Reef has some awesome streamer fishing. Low & slow is the key here. Pounding the banks with quick retrieves is not how I usually go about this. Positioning the boat on the sides of deeper water, whether that be a run or hole and retrieving your streamer slowly while maintaining contact with the bottom of the river is the technique that usually crushes it in the winter. This method is not rocket science but it does take some practice. I do this on Grey’s Reef & the Miracle Mile all winter, and I have become convinced it is the way to go!

Anglers and the rower must be in sync! The rower has to row the boat like he/her is rowing a bobber drift. The anglers should cast slightly upstream of where they normal would & allow their streamer to sink to the bottom. Once the streamer has sunk the rower ideally wants to start chasing the drift/retrieve just like your trying to get a long nymph drift. A slight downstream curve or bow on your line keeps the fly deep & gives the angler the ability to feel even the lightest of takes on this tight line. The biggest obstacle for anglers learning this method is figuring out how to fish and feel the bottom of the river without getting snagged on the bottom. Once again this isn’t rocket science but it does take a bit of practice.

The takes are usually very light! While sometimes you get fish to hammer it, the cold water temperatures having fish more on the lethargic side, so hitting the fish in the face with this low & slow method is usually what gets those fish to eat a streamer! Differentiating between bottom and eats can be a little tedious at first but once you get the hang of fishing deep & slow with a tight line it becomes easy to tell. While learning this you will get a lot of pump fakes from the bottom. Im always amazed how often after being hung on the bottom for a moment and getting the streamer moving slowly again you will get eats. This leads to a lot of “I think I got one!…Wait never mind.” Then two strips later BOOM theres a fish.

Keep in mind we are usually not casting to the banks, but there are exceptions like at outhouse hole where we have our boat left of “the trough” and casting as far as we can to the right. So while the streamer lands near the bank, I’m usually expecting an eat more in the middle of the river, with the first ten feet of the drift just being used to get my streamer on the bottom as much as possible.

It can almost seem like your czech nymphing streamers through the “nymphing water”. Keeping that line tight is crucial. If your stripping to fast you might go over a fish or simply be offer a presentation that requires these cold fish too much effort to eat. We usually use intermediate sinking lines (lines that sink, but only 1 to 2 IPS…inches per second). With these intermediate lines

Craig with a great brown trout on the stream taken in Outhouse Hole with the slow and low method!

Beginning of Winter

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