What's your winter fishing program?

[brownheron]

I caught bright coho all the way up to the first week in Jan but they drop off a lot in early December. After that, I pretty much stick to half day floats for winter steelhead either upstream or downstream of my house water shown below. Given the 'no fishing from boats' rule, I've found shorter floats and concentrating on thoroughly fishing smaller sections to work well.

My ace steelhead spotter helping out below. She's a PITA when spey casting but great at spotting the float going down.

yuki-snowriver

 

[jaredoconnor]

I mean, I didn't find them any worse than normal last year. But I guess it probably depends on where you are riding.

My wife and I are fairly time-poor, so we just go to Snoqualmie. All the Seattleites that never did snow stuff, now do. Subsequently, Soqualmie is a shit show.

 

[Tom Butler]

I have half a mind (literally) to go back to my pursuit of finding short fin grayling this winter.

Got more yesterday than all last winter. Now what? Not really, I dig these guys, they fight well, so I want to find more.

 

[Billy]

There was one January with snow on the ground I looked into a ditch and saw a pod of swimming bass. Since then I always spend at least one sunny afternoon checking it out:

 

[DerekWhipple]

Got more yesterday than all last winter. Now what? Not really, I dig these guys, they fight well, so I want to find more.

Behavior and location will probably be different since it's a different time of year, but on the Deschutes in spring and summer, I found some runs that were several feet deep where if I found trout on top or suspended, lots of whities would be below them on the bottom. I could throw on something really heavy and pull out a whitefish on almost every cast, I just had to get on the bottom. When I used to nymph for winter steelhead, I had some nice whitefish bycatch that was in water that was a little too slow to be classic steelhead water. I could never find them in the summer on the same river though. I wonder if someone has cracked the code to find the big whities like that one that was pulled out of the D last winter.

This board definitely needs a whitefish thread!

 

[clarkman]

This board definitely needs a whitefish thread!

Totally agree!

I think I had started one over at the old site a few years ago. At the time, there were more detractors than contributors....perhaps the vibe would be different this go around.

I absolutely love catching the ubiquitous short-fin grayling.

 

[Evan B]

Totally agree!

I think I had started one over at the old site a few years ago. At the time, there were more detractors than contributors....perhaps the vibe would be different this go around.

I absolutely love catching the ubiquitous short-fin grayling.

I support this

 

[Mingo]

One annual negative of winter shore fishing here is the crunch of tourists who don't understand that they don't own the ocean. So many feel that their presence means nobody can fish within a mile of them and their families. It's always been a challenge, but the entitled mentality is making it worse year by year.

 

[dirty dog]

Trout season closes Oct. 31 in the rivers and creeks around here in the Umpqua valley, so I'm gonna start hitting the N. river and the S. river with my single hand 10' 7wt's
Swinging and drifting soft hackles.

 

[longputt]

My winter fishing program is called bird hunting. Last year both dogs had leg issues so I did fish and caught some nice trout. February/March I sneak out for a few wild steelhead in an unnamed location.

 

[JeffRaines]

This board definitely needs a whitefish thread!

Dude, I'd pay to find some whitefish around here! I've heard they're not bad eating either. Save for the occasional brookie I don't eat trout, but I'd at least try a whitefish or two to see if I liked it.

 

[DerekWhipple]

Dude, I'd pay to find some whitefish around here! I've heard they're not bad eating either. Save for the occasional brookie I don't eat trout, but I'd at least try a whitefish or two to see if I liked it.

They're around! I was actually fishing the cowlitz the other day, wading out of a tail out back to shore. I looked down and there they were. Not very big, but several 12"-ish inch whitefish doing their thing! I'd never seen or noticed them before that.

 

[swimmy]

I caught bright coho all the way up to the first week in Jan but they drop off a lot in early December. After that, I pretty much stick to half day floats for winter steelhead either upstream or downstream of my house water shown below. Given the 'no fishing from boats' rule, I've found shorter floats and concentrating on thoroughly fishing smaller sections to work well.

My ace steelhead spotter helping out below. She's a PITA when spey casting but great at spotting the float going down.

yuki-snowriver

Nice pic.

 

[brownheron]

I support this

I support it so much I had a new WDM (Whitefish Death Machine) rod built this past summer. WDM1.0 was built on a noodly CTS 10' 4wt blank converted to a centerpin with a JW Young's Super Lightweight pin reel - 6gr Drennan stick float and a #14 copperjohn gets it done.

WMD2.0 was built on a Sage 1wt Trout Spey blank by a good rod builder and is a thing of beauty. It'll be slaying the whitey's on OP rivers after fall coho season tails off. I was scouting my spots yesterday.

 

[Chinook Angler]

I support it so much I had a new WDM (Whitefish Death Machine) rod built this past summer. WDM1.0 was built on a noodly CTS 10' 4wt blank converted to a centerpin with a JW Young's Super Lightweight pin reel - 6gr Drennan stick float and a #14 copperjohn gets it done.

WMD2.0 was built on a Sage 1wt Trout Spey blank by a good rod builder and is a thing of beauty. It'll be slaying the whitey's on OP rivers after fall coho season tails off. I was scouting my spots yesterday.

Share the pics please. I mean pics of the rod, not your favorite spot.

 

[Brian Miller]

I visit PS beaches during mid-late morning flood tides when the weather isn't too icky.



I'll fish a couple of streams for trout during (cold &) dry spells when they're not blowin'.




And I recently became involved with an enthusiastic group of fly anglers who stock a private lake that reportedly fishes well all winter.

 

[Replicant]

I don't ever fish the fall/winter. But, since I had a pretty miserable summer as far as fishing is concerned, I think I'm going to keep pursuing searuns, while I'm still doing work on the OP. Come January, I'll be snowboarding.

 

[TicTokCroc]

Oct 31 they close the streams down to trout fishing around here so I missed the boat there. Winter break we always go to the inlaws in Idaho Falls. Amazing fly fishing and outdoors mecca... Except it can get very cold that time of year. I usually haul all my fly tying stuff along and have a few week long fly tying marathon. If I brave the outdoors I go to one of the few reservoirs in the area and walk the banks looking for arrowheads. The water gets drawn way down in winter exposing endless mud flats and pea gravel. Technically your not supposed to keep artifacts but c'mon who finds an arrowhead and sets it back down. No guilt here, anything under a body of water has no archeological value anyways. Might give ice fishing a try, but I don't drink. Drive around, occasional acid flashback. Texas road house. That's about it for Idaho Falls in the winter. Back home, now that we got some rain I'll try to get out a few times mushroom hunting before we get a hard freeze. Order seeds, and work on garden plans and browse seed websites. Start early plants like hot peppers, onions, artichokes indoors in January. Do I get a steelhead tag? I dunno. Maybe wait till after Dec 31, since I didn't buy a tag this year.