I’ve become a bit of a cold weather fishing wimp as I’ve aged and winter in Western NY has been especially cold. Booked a couple days fishing the local big water well in advance not knowing that the cold would persist a bit longer than whatever normal is now. I was excited to not only fish but to physically reminisce about past fisheries I love by casting heavy sinking shooting heads and clousers.
In the weeks leading up to the trip the box had to be filled.
Day one had a great forecast for wind but damn it was cold. As I cast I had to work around loads of thin surface ice everywhere that had formed overnight. The hand warmers helped and likely getting skunked and not getting wet hands helped minimize the number of finger tips. Learned a lot the first day mostly getting my casting rhythm back and switching from a t-14 shooting head to a type 6.
Day two started off cold but not frigid. The temps were much better. There was still ice, but it was larger icebergs drifting all over and not getting in the way.
Luckily, I was able to break the skunk with a little brown. I love the feel of a grab when stripping a fly so even a little one gives you that. With the water temps between 33-34 it was the first time I’ve ever held a fish that felt so cold. Makes sense but I’d never experienced it before, even winter steelhead fishing.
We worked this area pretty hard and started exploring a bunch of other spots. Fished hard but no bites. The cold spring has definitely decreased the amount of fish and bait that are normally around. We did see a few fish swirling on the surface but nothing focused. After a long stretch of searching and the day getting quite nice (mid 50’s) we decided to move back to the spot I hooked the fish earlier. I started casting a fly with a wiggle tail I had tied up on a whim and while it may not have been the fly I was able to connect with a bigger brown to finish up the day.
Tougher fishing than I expected and I was hoping to find some shallow water lake trout but a good start to a long fly fishing layoff. Looking forward to warmer days and this trip only increased my urge to buy a boat.
In the weeks leading up to the trip the box had to be filled.
Day one had a great forecast for wind but damn it was cold. As I cast I had to work around loads of thin surface ice everywhere that had formed overnight. The hand warmers helped and likely getting skunked and not getting wet hands helped minimize the number of finger tips. Learned a lot the first day mostly getting my casting rhythm back and switching from a t-14 shooting head to a type 6.
Day two started off cold but not frigid. The temps were much better. There was still ice, but it was larger icebergs drifting all over and not getting in the way.
Luckily, I was able to break the skunk with a little brown. I love the feel of a grab when stripping a fly so even a little one gives you that. With the water temps between 33-34 it was the first time I’ve ever held a fish that felt so cold. Makes sense but I’d never experienced it before, even winter steelhead fishing.
We worked this area pretty hard and started exploring a bunch of other spots. Fished hard but no bites. The cold spring has definitely decreased the amount of fish and bait that are normally around. We did see a few fish swirling on the surface but nothing focused. After a long stretch of searching and the day getting quite nice (mid 50’s) we decided to move back to the spot I hooked the fish earlier. I started casting a fly with a wiggle tail I had tied up on a whim and while it may not have been the fly I was able to connect with a bigger brown to finish up the day.
Tougher fishing than I expected and I was hoping to find some shallow water lake trout but a good start to a long fly fishing layoff. Looking forward to warmer days and this trip only increased my urge to buy a boat.
