Winter fly fishing, what images conjure up in your mind at the mention of these words? For many anglers, winter fishing brings to mind slow-paced days of drifting nymphs or swinging streamers to catch the occasional trout.
However, ask any fly angler who loves fishing in winter, and they will tell you an entirely different story, one that involves winter dry fly fishing. Yes, you read it right.
The old adage of trout fishing with dry flies in winter is a reality. You just need to know the proven winter dry fly patterns to keep in your dry fly box and understand when you should be out searching for winter risers.
The Inside Scoop On Winter Dry Fly Fishing
Successfully targeting rising trout with winter flies requires some time on the water, especially if you don’t want it to turn into a guessing game. The first part is understanding the winter hatches and when they are most likely to occur.
What hatches in winter?
The primary winter hatch that occurs is the midge hatch. Midges hatch year-round, and in winter, they just need a slight increase in temperature to start emerging. This presents some amazing dry fly action, even amidst snowfall.
The other hatch to keep an eye on is the blue-winged olives. While not as common as the midge hatches, when they do occur, the trout start feeding hard. With the right dry flies on the end of your line, you’ll be catching fish after fish. Hence, never forget to carry these midge fly patterns if you plan on winter fly fishing.
When do hatches occur in the winter months?
A great thing about winter dry fly fishing is that you don’t need to be up at dawn or fish into dusk to find a good hatch, unlike in summer or spring. Most hatches happen right in the warmest parts of the day.
Flies need the weather to go from cold to warm to emerge. So, it’s best to fish dry flies between 12 pm and 3 pm. If you keep a keen eye on the surface, you should see flies coming off and trout rising around you as they feed hard on dry flies to maintain their winter energy levels.
Another tip for predicting a hatch is to fish just after a sharp temperature rise. If it moves from 35 to 45 degrees within a day, the midges and olives will be coming off the surface of the river. You’ll experience some of the best winter trout fishing you’ve ever seen.
Winter Dry Fly Patterns
Revealing these fly patterns feels like sharing secrets to an exclusive anglers’ club. Other anglers may laugh about you buying dry flies for winter after reading this article, but trust me, they are missing out.
You’ll find all these flies at your local fly shop, and when you see trout feeding on the surface while snow is falling, these flies will help you catch some fish. Ensure they are available in a range of hook sizes from 18-22.
Griffith’s Gnats
The Griffith’s gnat is probably the most effective fly pattern that imitates tiny flies, like midge patterns you can barely see biting you in the dead of winter. Some of these midges are a hook size 28, which is virtually invisible and would be impossible to tie.
The Griffith’s gnat imitates midge clusters where several midges have got stuck together in the surface film of the river. Trout go wild for them, especially in the Rocky Mountains.
Klinkhammer
The Klinkhammer is an awesome winter searching pattern, and I always have a few rows of these in my fly fishing fly box. What I love about this fly pattern is that the hook and thus the body of the fly sit below the surface. It looks like a midge trying to emerge and always seems to provoke a rising fish.
Anglers should have a few of these flies in their fly box in different colors from brown to black and grey and sizes 18-22 for winter trout.
Cannon’s Snowshoe Hare BWO Emerger
Source: edengleflyfishing.com
Another fly easily found at your fly shop is the Cannon’s Snowshoe Hare BWO Emerger. This is a killer fly pattern to pull out of your fly box when nothing else is working as it captures the BWO transition into a flying insect incredibly well.
Catskill Blue Winged Olive
Source: rockyrivertu.org
A Catskill BWO is one without a parachute on the head, resembling the old-school style before parachute flies took over. In such a small size, the parachute can often scare off wise trout as they have seen the silhouette before, and it looks out of place. All anglers should carry these in sizes 18-22.
Harrop’s CDC Biot Dun BWO
The Harrop’s CDC Biot Dun BWO is not for dry fly fishing in winter; it’s actually a wet fly. However, it’s a useful fly to have in the armory, and it’s caught thousands of fish. It imitates a BWO emerging and should be cast out under a dry fly and fished on the swing at the end of the drift. If the fish are refusing your dry fly, they will probably take this one. See our post here to understand the difference between wet vs. dry flies.
Adams
Probably the most useful dry fly of all time and one we all know and love, the Adams. Whether it’s an old-school one or a parachute style, ensure you have about 10 in sizes 18-22 with you when dry fly fishing in the cold.