Cold Weather Fishing

[crabbybob]

Hi,

I've been casting flies for about 6 years now and until now have settled for going after stocked fish in the local ponds. Recently I've been fishing with my brother and he's a bit more adventurous than I am so we've made a few visits to the Swift and Deerfield rivers. I haven't caught much but being able to "explore" the the area has been it's own reward. Normally I would have put the rods away for the year by now but like I said my brother's a bit less timid and he plans to keep fishing so I figure I'll tag along which brings me to my question. What type of gear you people suggest for cold weather?

I usually pick up a couple of three packs of those cheap brown cloth gloves and double them up for things like shoveling or ice fishing and they work well for that but would they work as well for fly fishing?

How about something like foot warmers? Would it be a good idea to stick a few in my chest waders?

Is there a specific type of line or leader or tippet that would be best for cold water?

How late in the year do you usually fish? My brother is talking about getting together on the weekend of Dec. 15, brrrrrr.

[JoeOverlock]

Hi Bob,

Keeping warm is the biggest trick to fly fishing in the winter. I usually try to stick to days above the 32 degree mark just to make things easier. When it's below freezing out you will get ice build up on your rod guides and you'll have to clear them every few casts. Also your tippet will start to look like a giant icicle after about 10 casts. When I go out in the winter months it's usually more for the fishing experience the it is for the catching.

Winter fly fishing is a lot of fun. I like to keep a stream side fire going with a coffee pot next to it. It just makes for a nice day on the water. Your legs are going to get cold, I don't care what you wear, the only thing you can do is prolong the cold by dressing in layers.

As for fly selection I like to use Czech nymph rigs (3 nymph dropper rig), Bead head PT nymphs, and heavy streamers with a dead drift to slow retrieve.

Keep warm!
-Joe

[Ray]

Wow what a nice brother you have. Think of all the fishing you would be missing out on if not for him. If i were you i would make sure and buy him a really nice gift for Christmas. Maybe one of those Sage rods he keeps talking about. Hell, he sounds so nice I'd buy him a truck to pull that boat of his ;D

[Mark Patenaude]

For line and guide freeze-ups I use this product when I fish for Steelhead during the Winter. It works very well.

www.schmidtoutfitters.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.display/product_id/1080/index.cfm

By the way, this link is not an endorsement for Schmidt Outfitters, but if you ever get the change to fish the Manistee River area in Michigan, this is the guide service to use. When I get up that way, I always stop in to say hello to Ray Schmidt and his guides. These guys are the best in the entire Midwest. (Hmmm, I guess it is an endorsement). Check out his fly pattern index. His flies are killer on Salmon and Steelhead and all should work great on the Salmon River.

I used to put foot warmers in my polar fleece socks but haven't done it for a while. Once they stop working, they are uncomfortable.

I won't use neoprene waders. I put Simms wader-wick underwear on to keep the moisture away from my skin, then polar fleece socks and polar fleece pants under my breathable waders. I stay pretty warm that way. I'm convinced that because the neoprene doesn't breath you build up moisture inside them and get colder.

For gloves I have a pair of "Kenai" fingerless gloves that are heavy polar-fleece with rubber on the palms and fingers. If you can't find them, buy a good set of wool fingerless gloves, yes they will get wet, but the nice part about wool is it will hold the warmth from you hands in the fabric when wet and will keep your hands pretty warm.

Last thing, be very cautious with you graphite fly rod during temps at or below freezing. The rod gets a bit brittle and if you contact branches, et. al. you may have a problem. It happened to me once.

Mark

[hoxie]

A hooded sweatshirt jacket, a/k/a a "hoodie" (or what we used to call a "snoogie" back in the day) is an invaluable piece of cold weather fishing gear.

[crabbybob]

Thanks Joe. You kind of lost me on the fly selection but I found a write-up on the web of some Czech nymphs globalflyfisher.com/patterns/czech/. My forte in fly tying is woolly buggers but I might be able to tie a few of those nymphs. So three of those strung together might do the trick? What size hook? Maybe a 6 or an 8?

Hey Ray. I downloaded that game you posted. It's pretty cool but I have to question the accuracy of the simulation. I haven't hooked myself in the back of the shirt yet and I do that quite a bit in real life. As it happens I do have a truck and I've mentioned to my brother that he's welcome to it after I die. The thing is I've promised a lot of things to a lot of people so he better get to my house quick after I'm gone. Other people have their eye on it and they check in every now and then to "see how I'm doing".

Mark! Lots of good tips in your post. I was thinking of the fingerless gloves. I think the cloth gloves I normally use might get wet quickly. I was also thinking of putting on a pair of Playtex gloves under the cloth to keep the water out but that would probably reduce the dexterity of my fingers considerably.

Got to love those hoodies hoxie. Comfort is a wool hat and hoodie on a cold winter's day.

[JoeOverlock]

For those Czeck nymphs I like to use a #16 - #12 Scud hook. I have to tie a few up sometime in the next few weeks, I'll take some pics of them when I do and post them to the board.

[Ray]

So Bob let me get this straight. A promised truck, slippery river rocks and cold water. Hmmmmm. Let me ask you, does he offer to "hold on to the truck keys" while you guy's fish? If so i would start thinking of his motives.

The game is not very easy to play. i think as in real life i can only cast 25 feet. The guy needs to redo the user input schema and I'm not sure what he uses for an algorythm to determine when the fish hit on specific flies or where they swim ect. Just thought it was kind of neat.

[crabbybob]

It would be great if you could post some pictures Joe. I've seen your photos in another thread and was impressed. By the way I was talking to someone on the Deerfield this past weeend and he mentioned he caught a couple of trout on an egg pattern and I thought of the eggs in your thread. I should have asked to seem them.

Ray, I'm the family favorite. If anything happens to me on the river he's in trouble.

[jlibs]

In addition to the other suggestions for cold weather fly fishing, while it may sound obvious, try to stay out of the water as much as possible. Also, consider putting some chapstick or vaseline on the guides to delay ice-up.

JLIBS