Winter can be a tricky time to spend on the water. You have to deal with frozen fingers and guides. You also have to wear many layers of clothes and make sure to cover your face and head. Frost bite is a very real possibility, and
you need to prepare accordingly. I now carry a net with me so I don't have to stick my hands in the water to retrieve my fish - a lesson learned the hard way!Most of the streams can be frozen over like many of our still water fisheries. But there is always a hearty few who know that not all is lost. In fact winter is probably the best time to fish. Crowds are not a problem and the fish still need to eat. So a few of us hard core fly fishing dudes take to the water that is open. And with our layers of clothing and waders, we stand in water that is barely above the freezing mark, in the hopes of getting our lines stretched and our rods b
ent. And if we are prepared enough, we might just catch a few fish.For the past few weeks, with the exception of this past weekend, the temperatures have been a little on the cool side. And we expect this - it is winter after all! The bad part about it is that we have had no snow melt to raise the water levels, and many of the small streams are locked up with ice. The few that have remained open get pounded by fisherman that have been fishing to the same fish on a weekly basis.
Salvation has come from a smal
l inland trout stream that remains ice free all winter long. In fact it's water temperatures stay near 50 degrees all year round. And that means that it is often the best place to spend a few hours throwing flies. And that place is none other than "Spring Creek!"It has provided us hard core fly fishing guys with a remedy for a severe case of cabin fever.
Small flies and light tippet are the key to consistent action Spring Creek. We have had our best success using #16-#20 pink scuds, with #16-#18 red worms, #20-#26 midge larvae and #20 flash back nymphs taking the rest of the fish.
So here are some photos that were taken from the past two weeks of fly fishing spring creek. I will also put in 2 links here for you to check out some of Lucas Carroll's photography as well.
I hope you enjoy!
3 comments:
I just found your blog, so excited to see someone blogging about the waters I fish...well, the waters I wish I was fishing. I don't get out nearly as much as I'd like to, but these are my home waters too. I think I even recognized one pond you took your kids to. That pond had some fish in it last summer that was a few FEET long. Not sure what kind, but it was huge...and not interested in what I was offering.
Glad to see someone else is on to winter fishing @ spring creek as well. I've lost track of how many time I've gone out there on a perfectly day and not seen another soul.........Not that I'm complaining.
Thanx for the link to the carrol photography page as well. Beatiful pics, I'm a fan.
Lovely blog, thanks for sharing
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