The Eggs of March: How to Catch Late-Winter Trout on Egg Patterns

The author hoists a brown trout whose belly is engorged by eggs it has eaten. Photo courtesy Kubie Brown

Many fly fishers plan their entire year around particular insect hatches. They’ll mark their calendars, plan vacations, and duck-out on birthdays and anniversaries at the slightest hint that the long-awaited bugs have arrived. However, there is another type of “hatch” that is often overlooked, though under the right conditions, it can produce as much rod-bending trout action as any of those emergences. I’m talking, of course, about eggs.

While egg patterns can be effective in late autumn, they fish even better in the late winter and early spring. Spawning trout, such as rainbows and cutthroats, are full of more hormones than a pubescent teenager, making them competitive and aggressive. At the same time, other trout species, such as browns and brookies, are on the lookout for protein-packed meals after a long winter. This means that every fish in the river will snatch drifting eggs out of the current like bird dogs on a spilled bag of kibble. However, if you want to capitalize on this yolky bounty, you’ve got to be fishing in the right places with the right equipment.

Don’t Play Dirty

While it’s fine to target pre-spawn trout making their way upstream or fish that are moving in behind spawners to chow down on eggs, never fish for trout that are actively spawning. In fact, you shouldn’t go anywhere near spawning fish or the redds they create. Sure, catching fish on their redds can be extremely easy, but it hurts the resource. Those fish are making the trout you’ll be catching for years to come, so don’t disturb them.

Give spawning fish, such as these steelhead in Calofornia’s Steven Creek, and their redds a wide berth. Photo courtesy of Guadalupe Coyote Resource Conservation District

Whenever you’re fishing in the late winter and early spring, avoid casting in shallow areas with slow moving currents and bottoms of gravel or pebbles, as these are prime spawning areas for trout. Instead, concentrate your angling efforts well downstream of any likely spawning areas or spawning fish. Not only will this ensure that you’re not disturbing them, but it’s also where you’re going to have the most egg-eating action.

Choosing Your Eggs

There’s a wide array of effective egg patterns available. Clockwise from upper left: Roe Egg (Fulling Mill), Y2K Egg (Umpqua), Estaz Egg (Finham), and Meth Egg (Umpqua).

There is a wide array of egg flies, beads, and spawn patterns to choose from when fishing in the late winter—from tiny, single-egg patterns that work well in low, clear water, to large, egg-cluster imitation that will catch trout when the water is a bit murky from snowmelt. It can be a challenge to figure out which fly to use and when, but here are some general guidelines to follow for fly selection.

Eggs from spawning rainbow and cutthroat trout are yellow to orange and are extremely tiny, usually between 2/8 and 3/16 of an inch in diameter. While trout feeding on these eggs will take singles, they usually feed more readily on small clusters of two to four eggs. Patterns like the Roe Egg and the Y2K in sizes 12 to 18 in yellow and orange are the most effective for most river conditions, as are white and off-white patterns, which mimic the colors of unfertilized eggs. However, if the water is running high and murky, you can have a lot of luck with egg flies as large as a size 8 Estaz Egg or Crystal Meth in brighter colors like white, fluorescent orange, and even pink.

It’s also important to know if there is a significant population of suckers living in the rivers you’re fishing. These large, bottom-dwelling fish spawn at around the same time as trout, and their can eggs make up a large part of a trout’s late-winter diet. Sucker eggs usually form large clusters and are easy to imitate with Sucker Spawn fly patterns. The most effective colors are yellow-and-white or pink-and-peach.

Rigging Up and Fishing Down

The most effective ways to fish egg patterns are to drift them under an indicator or bounce them on a tight line along the bottom. Both methods can be effective, but one usually works better than the other, depending on specific river conditions and water speeds.

In higher, faster water, the indicator rig is the best way to go. The distance from your indicator to the fly should be one and a half times the depth of the water you’re fishing. So to fish in 4 feet of water, set the indicator 6 feet above your fly. To ensure you’re fishing deep enough, add a couple small split shot 3 to 5 inches above your egg. Ideally, this setup will allow the split shot to drift right on the bottom with your fly fluttering in the current a few inches above, where it can float right into a waiting trout’s jaws.

Tightline nymphing with eggs is usually more effective in slower water. In larger pools and rivers, the simplest and most effective method is to crimp a large split shot to your line about 4 inches above your fly. Cast upstream and allow your line to sink so the weight has time to sink and roll along the bottom. This is a great way to cover water in larger pools, as you can cast and drift this rig repeatedly to hit all potential trout feeding spots. Start by casting short and then lowering your rod tip over the water, so your fly is drifting on a fairly tight line, allowing you to easily set the hook anytime your drift stops or pauses. Then repeat the process with gradually longer and longer casts until you’ve worked all the water within your reach.

In smaller streams or when you’re working smaller pieces of fast water, a drop-shot rig is usually the way to go. Tie a 6- to-12 inch length of tippet to the end of your leader with a surgeon’s knot or blood knot, leaving a long tag end. Next, tie a 1/4 ounce casting sinker to the bottom of the line and then add your egg fly to the tag that extends from the knot. Fish the drop-shot rig by casting and letting the weight sink to the bottom. Then as the current pushes the weight along the bottom, raise your rod tip to maintain tension, setting the hook anytime the drift stops or when you feel the twitch, tug, or yank of a hungry trout.

It’s important to remember that no matter how you’re fishing an egg pattern, you always want it drifting downstream as naturally as possible. Unlike insect nymphs, which can twitch and swim as they drift, eggs are entirely without extra movement. You don’t want them to swing at the end of the drift or pull them back upstream through water you’re planning to fish, as any unnatural movement from the fly will not only turn off the trout but may actually spook them out of the area.

Scrambled or Fried?

As much as we’d all like there to be bugs on the river all year long, the fact is that if you only fish during insect hatches, you’re missing out on some prime opportunities. When trout are keyed in on eggs, the fishing can be completely out of control with hook-ups to fat, egg-gobbling trout coming regularly. So next time you’re planning your spring and summer fishing vacations, you may just want to pencil in a couple late winter sessions and then wait for the eggs to hatch.