After taking a hiatus of several years, winter has returned to Virginia. The mercury has been dipping into the single digits here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and daytime highs have barely peaked north of freezing for a couple weeks.
“Just like the old days!” a friend exclaimed recently.
Yep.
Which means that instead of being able to catch trout in January with tactics traditionally used in early spring–which has been the approach during recent balmy winter months–it’s back to deep winter tactics. This often means grinding it out in misery for a bite or two. But, hey, miserable fishing is better than not fishing, right?
Maybe?
There’s also nothing wrong with biding our time in anticipation of warmer days and hungrier fish that we know await. We can spend that time sulking, or we can spend it prepping. I prefer the latter. Here are a few ways to invest time now to make fishing better when spring arrives.
Fly Box maintenance
There are anglers who can keep their fly boxes tidy at all times, patterns all perfectly placed where they belong. There are no Drunk and Disorderly streamers mingling with Copper Johns. No Sofa Pillow dries among Wooly Buggers.
I am not one of these people. I need winter to give me a chance to go through my boxes and organize them to a reasonable degree. Organized boxes help me spend more time fishing and less time looking for flies. And I really like having things in order before chaos reigns again in a couple months.
Replacing flies
Whether we tie or buy, now is the time to beef up our boxes with our favorites. I have a handful of patterns that I use (and lose) often. Those are always my wintertime inventory-rebuilding priorities. That said, it’s hard for me to sit at the vise and knock out five or six dozen Buggers at one time. I’m going to get distracted. Which brings me to my next tip….
Invent something
Known patterns are known for good reason. They work. But it’s kind of fun to veer from the norm occasionally. That could mean making minor tweaks to a standard pattern. Or it could mean trying something completely new.
Even if the result is less than pretty, it’s probably still going to work. Last year, for example, before a trip to the Caribbean to crew for a friend on his sailboat, I experimented with patterns to target juvenile tarpon in island canals. The flies were pretty hideous. But they worked better than the store-bought standard tarpon patterns I had in my box.
Target a new fishery
Anglers tend to be creatures of habit, at least when fishing near home. Those of us who have been at this for a while have done our share of exploration, sure, but we develop habits. We tend to spend most of our fishing time going back to what/where we know, especially if we have limited time.
But now is the time to commit to trying at least a couple new waters this year.
Many state fish and wildlife agencies have excellent online tools for identifying trout waters. And apps like Trout Routes are also a good resource. I scroll when watching college basketball games on TV.
I’ve had more misses than hits when trying a new place, but some of those hits have been awesome and made the effort worth it.
However you spend your time during these cold months, do so with intention to make this your best year of fly fishing yet. Whether you’re after something small, something new, something big or someplace new, you’re guaranteed to have a better time doing it if you go in prepared.