12/31/2021
🎯 TUESDAY TIPS 🎯
Because when you've got fishing fever, there's no cold that's too cold.
1️⃣ Sleep in and eat a big breakfast.
When temps fall below freezing, even fish that love the cold will take a few hours to perk up. Spend the morning sleeping in, prepping your layers, and eating a fatty breakfast. A feast of eggs, cheese and bacon will keep you warmer longer than pancakes and syrup.
2️⃣ Dress your line up for a day in the cold.
In extreme temperatures, even coldwater lines benefit from a little extra attention. Start the day by giving your fly line a good stretch between your hands, working in 2-3 foot chunks until you've stretched out the entire head and rear taper. To keep guides free of ice, hit them with a generous coating of Chapstick, and reapply throughout the day.
3️⃣ Focus on deep slow water, and linger long.
Whether you are chasing steelhead, brown trout, smallmouth bass or muskie, winter anglers should pass over much more water than they fish.... but deep slow water should be fished slowly and systematically.
4️⃣ Put the fly in the fish's face.
Winter fish aren't going to move far for a meal, period. So you'll need to put the bug on their nose. For nymphers, this means working an extra tight grid, and making sure you've got the weight to bump the bottom. For streamer swingers and st*****rs, it means employing lines and tips with sufficient weight to get flies deep, and using flies designed to plumb the depths. Time to bust out those wool-head sculpins.
5️⃣ Keep 'em wet.
While it's always a good idea to keep fish submerged during the release process, extreme cold makes this triply important. That's because frigid temps can freeze gills exposed to air, possibly causing permanent respiratory damage. So build extra karma with the fish gods by going barbless and using an extra long set of hemos. Your quarry will thank you.
