Last Stand: 3 Techniques to Help You Catch Trout Before Freeze Up

All Photos: Kubie Brown

Most fly fishers have a “never say die” attitude on the water. At the end of the day, we’ll continue casting even when we can’t even see our dry flies. On good looking pools, we’ll fish down to the very edge of the tail out in search of one last fish hiding in a corner, and we always go for one “last” cast. Yet, no matter how determined to stay on the water you are, there is one thing that always at least slows you down—winter.

Sure, we may go out on the water a few times to fish midges and the like, but the biting cold and frozen water at least dampens our zeal. However, over the years I’ve noticed that many anglers hang up their waders a bit too early. Once the first edges of frost are on the grass and the first snow sprinkles on the mountains, they go into full shutdown. This is a mistake because when you fish with the right techniques, late fall and early winter fishing can be much hotter than the weather.

Long-Line Nymphing

Long-line nymphing is one of the most overlooked and productive techniques for cold water. It involves rigging a pair of small nymphs with no weight on an extremely long leader and then either dead-drifting them or running them under an indicator. It’s a deadly early winter technique for trout, but to be effective you have to know how to set up your rig and fish it in the right spots.

Long-line nymphing works great where fast water empties into slower water.

Long-line nymphing is perfect for deeper pools at the bottom of faster water. In the low, clear conditions of late fall and early winter, trout stack up in these areas and feed throughout the entire water column. While these fish may ignore or even be spooked by your average nymphing set up in such conditions, the long-line technique can be incredibly effective because it allows you to present your nymphs naturally at a variety of different depths, covering water and triggering spooky, cold-water trout into striking.

The first thing you need is, of course, a long line. Start with a 12- to 15-foot fluorocarbon leader tapered to 5X or 6X. Attach a weighted nymph to the leader as your lead fly. Usually, I like to use a smaller, slightly flashy or brightly colored nymph, such as the Fly Formerly Known as Prince, a Hotspot Pheasant Tail, or a Frenchie. This fly is meant to act as both a weight and an attractor pattern for the fish. Next, tie a 6- to 8-inch length of tippet to the bend of the lead fly’s hook, and add a dropper. This fly should be smaller and more natural looking pattern that is either lightly or completely unweighted. My favorites include the Zebra Midge and English Pheasant Tail, but scuds and worms will also work in the right water.

Useful patterns for long-line nymphing include (clockwise from upper left): Fly Formerly Known as Prince, Hotspot Pheasant Tail, Frenchie, English Pheasant Tail, and unweighted Zebra Midge.

Next, place a small indicator at a distance twice the water depth above the lead fly. This will allow your flies to sink through the water column as they drift until you find the strike zone while also giving you plenty of room to adjust your indicator should you start snagging bottom.

Cast your long-line rig into the edge of the fast water closest to where you’re standing, and then make a mend to allow your flies to sink. As your flies dead-drift downstream, add more line to the drift by repeatedly mending excess slack onto the water. Allow the rig to drift down into slower water, and set the hook anytime your indicator twitches, hesitates, or dunks. If you don’t have any luck on your first couple drifts, cast a little farther into fast current and repeat the process until you get a strike.

It’s worth noting that cold-water trout will often stack up in the same area at the same depth. Once you connect with a fish, it’s a good idea to repeat the same drift in the same area at roughly the same speed and depth, as you’ll likely connect with multiple trout.

This gorgeous rainbow fell for a weighted streamer twitched close to the bottom.

Twitching and Drifting

Trout in cold water are usually sluggish and hesitant to eat. Accordingly, success often comes from offering something they can’t resist, and nothing in the world is more tempting for lock-jawed trout than a wounded baitfish. While you can imitate a wounded baitfish with several different methods, few are as effective than twitching and drifting a streamer.

Twitching and drifting a streamer is all about making your fly look as vulnerable as possible, and it’s very simple to do. Unlike when you’re stripping a streamer, where the fly is constantly on the move, the twitch-and-drift requires just a few flicks of your rod tip as the fly drifts downstream. You’re trying to imitate a wounded or dying baitfish drifting downriver with the current, twitching and fluttering on occasion as it tries to recover.

If you’re willing to brave the elements, you can catch trout as long as the water remains unfrozen.

This technique works best with a sink-tip fly line or a sinking polyleader and an unweighted streamer. This combo will cause your fly to sink slowly and evenly in a perpendicular presentation, rather than rocketing straight down to the bottom or drifting vertically, as it would with a weighted head. My favorite patterns for twitching and drifting include Lefty’s Deceiver and the Double Deceiver, as well the Zonker Minnow and Woolly Bugger. It’s simple to set up, as all you have to do is attach your fly to your line or leader with 2 to 3 feet of 10- or 12-pound tippet material.

Drifting and twitching a streamer works best in fairly shallow, slow-moving water where the current is flowing at a fast walking pace. Look for long runs along the bank and in the center of the river, paying extra attention to any areas with a lot of structure. These can include undercut banks, logs, woodpiles, and drop-offs around midriver boulders where a predatory trout can easily conceal itself and wait for prey to pass by.

Once you’ve found a suitable area, cast your fly at an upstream angle as close to the top of the run or structure as you can. Twitch your fly once or twice to draw attention and then make a downstream mend to allow your line to belly so that it will tow the streamer along with the current. As your fly drifts, make the occasional upstream flick with your rod tip to cause the fly to twitch, pulse, and flutter as it drifts like a mortally wounded baitfish.

Swinging nymphs and streamers slowly along the bottom can trigger sluggish trout to strike.

Swing Low and Slow

A technique very familiar to winter steelheaders, low-and-slow swinging is all about getting your fly to swim as slowly and as deeply as possible. It’s an extremely effective technique for catching cold water trout on both streamers and nymphs in deep, slow moving pools when the fish are holding close to the bottom waiting for food to drift past their noses.

Ideally, swinging low and slow should be done with small, weighted streamers or nymphs on a sink-tip or even a full-sinking line, though it works with a floating line in shallower water. It’s an ideal method for gauging the mood of trout, as you can present a tandem rig of either a pair of nymphs or streamers or even a streamer and nymph, allowing you to figure out what the trout are feeding on. Effective streamer patterns for low-and-slow swinging include the Conehead Woolly Bugger and Zonker, as well as larger flies like the Dolly Llama and Sculpzilla. These streamers can be tipped with a smaller nymph such as a Beadhead Pheasant Tail or a Lightning Bug for some added incentive. If you’re going to swing a nymph or a pair of nymphs, use a large, weighted stonefly pattern such as a Kaufmann Stone or a Stone Bugger. These insects are prevalent in cold water and will work alone or as a lead fly paired with a smaller beadhead nymph.

When you find a suitable location—a slow-moving pool or run where trout hold close to the bottom—move to the top of the run and cast your fly across the top of the pool at a 90-degree angle. Make a large upstream mend to allow your fly to sink, and as the fly passes you, allow the line to tighten so your fly swings across the pool before coming to rest directly downstream. After your first cast, add a little more line and repeat the process, stepping downstream after your mend to give the fly more time to sink and adding additional mends whenever necessary so that your presentation crawls along the bottom as slowly as possible.

Catching a trout in cold water, when most anglers have givern up for the season, brings a special sense of accomplishment.

Strikes on low-and-slow swinging presentations can be subtle. Be sure to set your hook anytime you feel anything unusual, as the delicate takes can make it hard to tell the difference between an errant rock and a hungry trout.

The Final Countdown

Not only does the coming of the winter’s snow and ice limit our time on the water, but eventually Father Time himself will catch up to us. There will come a time when we can’t get out on the water as much as we’d like, so we need to get our licks in while we can. When the winter begins to approach and the cold water starts to make you feel like it’s time to maybe put the rod away, hold out for a little bit longer. Because when you know how to catch trout before freeze-up, there’s always time for one more cast.