Tips for Big Winter Brown Trout

I host a weekly podcast, and in one of the most recent episodes, I talked about five of my most memorable fish. Those catches had a few things in common, but the most prominent thread that connected them was when I caught them. Four of the five ended up in my net in the dead of winter.

That’s not a coincidence.

Rivers drop significantly during winter, which forces the fish into the deepest parts of the river. They’ll “pod up” and, once you’ve found where the fish are hanging out, you can catch quite a few from the same hole before the rest of them wise up. Since big trout tend to occupy the best feeding lies, I think chances are higher to catch your biggest fish in winter than any other time of year.

So, if you’ve been targeting a really big fish, but weren’t sure how to make that happen, fishing in winter is your first step.

Nolan Dahlberg, over at Flylords, has five other steps to help you target big winter brown trout, specifically. He talks about focusing on the deepest, slowest runs, but I appreciate that he also speaks to using smaller flies, too.

“When it comes to winter fishing, smaller is almost always better,” he writes. “Small natural patterns like midges, small pheasant tails, and even micro eggs should be in every winter angler box. This time of year, bug activity is at a minimum, and the bugs that are around are, you guessed it, small.”

A few weeks ago I was on the water with my friend Alex. He caught his personal-best rainbow trout—a 25 1/4-inch fish—on a size 18 midge pattern. Small flies often work wonders this time of year.

You can learn more about targeting big winter browns, and read the rest of Dahlberg’s story, here.