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December and January are those months of the year when fly fishers are limited by the weather. Freestone waters are covered in a mantle of ice and snow. The trout have gone deep to hold in lies which will not tax their metabolism by fighting currents or challenging other fish for the prime feeding areas. Since the winter in the northern part of the state has been eight degrees below normal since mid-November, all that is left for us to "dangle the angle" is tailwater fisheries.
There are several parts of our beloved Cowboy State which do allow for some winter fishing, however. The North Platte near Saratoga, the Platte near Casper, the Wind/Bighorn River near Casper and the Shoshone River from Cody to Powell come to mind. These waters are a god-send to those of us who can't go more than a couple of days without suffering serious fishing withdrawal, especially during the winter! If the temperature is near freezing and above, this writer is in his waders and prowling the banks of the Shoshone or the Bighorn, looking for fish that are sucking midges or gulping baetis of one variety or another.
On the days when it's colder than a whore's heart, pouring through fly boxes and finding out which fly patterns need to be replenished for the next year is a good idea. Old reliables, such as parachute Adams, royal trudes, Turck's tarantulas, woolly buggers, North Fork specials, hoppers and elk hair caddis are the flies most often missing from my arsenal by the end of summer. Most have been left in the jaws of trout, but just as many have landed too close to over-lying brush and vegetation along the banks. Others have missed the gap in the trees by a fraction of an inch and broken off some tens of feet above and behind backcasts.
Filling the gaps in the fly boxes usually results in us sitting down at the fly tying bench and cranking out a dozen of this or that size of fly pattern that is missing. Personally, I can't think of a better way to pass the time when the weather has us indoors. Since I am not into chopping a long, rectangular hole in the ice in order to fly fish, I have three alternatives from which to choose. I can wait until things thaw out, then go fishing. Or, I can pack my travel rods and head south to Belize, the Bahamas or Costa Rica (which I do every year despite the weather). Or, I can tie flies with my fishing buds and argue about whether posted wings are really necessary on size 32 royal Wulffs. Just so you know, they aren't.
At the moment, the air in Cody is a balmy thirty-one degrees, it is 6:30 in the morning and I am writing this in order to have free up the time to tie some more "secret" blue-winged olive emergers for the browns and bows on the Shoshone later today, between the hours of eleven and three o'clock. Since the rest of the week is forecast to be well below freezing, today is the day, if I want to capitalize on the change of weather. If, when reading this, you are unable to enjoy the trout fishing due to the weather, here are some suggestions for you to ponder.
When tying up some pheasant tails or hare's ears in the smaller sizes (16-20), add one-two wraps of blue dun hen hackle to the pattern. The added material will give movement to your fly when presented to the trout and increase your catch rate as well. Ice in rod guides is another problem to remedy in cold weather. I have tried every gimmick devised by man to keep my line sailing in a tight loop to rising fish in the winter. Nothing solves the problem better than WD-40, in my opinion. The lubricant won't damage your fly line, plus it stays on the guides longer than any of the products touting "ice-free" guides. The final suggestion is a simple one, too. Carry several packs of different sizes, and colors, of metal beads. If you have some soft-hackled fly patterns that are non-weighted, you can slip a gold or silver bead up your tippet. After your clinch knot is tied and trimmed, the bead will slip down over the knot and give you the option of fishing deep or fishing near the surface. The same holds true for other wet fly patterns. If you are into fishing streamers and giving the trout a Big Mac to dine on, substitute metal cones for the beads. The cones seem to shed weeds, or floating debris, better than beads when fishing the more fertile tailwaters.
Tim Wade
http://www.northforkanglers.com
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