Entry by Mike Loebl
In part one, we took a look at how to stay warm when fishing in cold weather. In this post, we’ll look at how to find fish in the rivers during the chilly times of the year.
Winter flows tend to be low compared to other times of the year and the water is always cold. These two things both conspire to concentrate trout. This creates a challenge for anglers, as much of the river will be virtually empty of fish. At the same time, it can be a boon, as once fish are found oftentimes many can be hooked.
Most of our trout fishing in the cold weather months is with nymphs, so we’ll look at the rivers with regard to finding good water to effectively fish nymphs in. This isn’t the same water you would necessarily fish if you wanted to find fish feeding on midges, or if you were intent on catching fish on streamers.
Trout do not like to fight heavy currents in cold water so finding current breaks and slow water is the first key to finding fish. The second key to finding fish, or at least fish that can be caught with a fly, is finding water with either enough depth or surface disturbance to allow an angler to get close enough to the fish to get a good drift. If you can see every pebble in the bottom of the river, chances are good that you have already spooked the trout that had been lying there. If a pocket or run has a hint of color when you look into the water, chance are good that you can fish it effectively without disturbing the fish.
With these two factors, it is possible to eliminate a tremendous amount of river. Combine slow water and some depth or surface disturbance so the trout feel safe and suddenly one only has to fish a small percentage of the river. Ignore everything else and focus all of your fishing on this water. The odds are now tipped in your favor.
In addition to slow water and some overhead cover, trout really like structure. Often structure itself is what creates the slow water or cover, but that isn’t always the case. A long deep pool may have a lot of water that could harbor trout, but expect to find the most fish where there is structure. This can take the form of the drop off at the head of the pool, deep slots in the gut of the pool, or in front or behind rocks any where in the pool. These places are where one can expect the most fish to be in the pool itself.
Drop offs are some of the most overlooked places in the river. The drop itself creates a pocket of slower water that the fish like and turbulence from the shallow water above the drop off creates good cover. Drop offs don’t have to be huge to hold fish. A change in depth of less than a foot can be enough to create an attractive home for a trout. Small drop offs in shallow water often hold fish and these fish seldom see much attention from anglers.
Rocks are natural fish holders. While everyone knows that the slicks behind rocks are reliable spots, don’t ignore the soft water in front of rocks and along their sides. Most large rocks will have depressions on each side of them where the current flowing around the rock has dug out the river bottom. If the current is slow enough, these spots can hold a lot of fish as they are essentially drop offs.
Gravel bars are also great fish holders, mostly for the drop offs and soft water that one finds in their wake. Whether they are deeply submerged or breaking the surface, Trout will be found behind them.
Any combination of structure is usually more attractive to trout than a single piece of structure on its own. Another good rule of thumb is that the larger the structure, the more likely that it will concentrate fish. Small rock slicks my house a fish or two and big pools formed by a wide gravel bar dropping off into slow deep water may have hundreds of trout in them.
Next time you step into a river in winter, take the time to look at the water and start eliminating unlikely spots based on current speed, depth and structure. Take a look at what is left and fish it hard. You are sure to find some fish.