I’ve been busy tying flies lately. But I was able to get to the river a couple of times recently and reconciled to myself if I really wanted to catch fish, fishing with nymphs was the best solution.
What a difference a year makes. Last year by this time, we had five feet of snow that had fallen. I can’t tell you how many hours I was behind my snowblower or shoveling snow.
Here is a picture from mid-December 2016. We probably had another three feet of snow by this time last year!
But this year there is no snow on the ground. Which is why I went fishing.
On a winter day, you might be lucky to see a few Blue Wing Olives hatching. It doesn’t last long, but if you look closely, you’ll see those little sailboats floating down the river.
I’ll use two simple, but effective flies to match this hatch – an Improved Sparkle Dun and my RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple.
BWO Improved Sparkle Dun
RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple
I love these two flies. And when the fish are looking up, I have a lot of confidence one of these flies will work.
But the hatch is usually short-lived. I wanted to fish longer so I decided to tie on a couple of nymphs. I’ve written about the set-up I use when fishing two flies in a previous post entitled – How to Fish Unweighted Nymphs.
Which flies worked last week?
If you look closely at the first picture, you’ll see a $3 Dip.
I don’t know why this fly works so well, but I’m guessing the fish think it imitates a BWO nymph rising to the surface.
And the Rainbow Warrior is another fly that works well too.
These are a couple of great nymphs to use during winter fishing.
For a good list of nymphs I use in my fly box, check out a previous post entitled – Nymphs for a Well Stocked Fly Box.
I hope to get out and fish later this week. You can be sure I’ll have these flies in my fly box.
Enjoy…go fish!
