Winter Fishing Advice

Fly fishing in winter is what separates the casual fly dunker from the stalwarts, the fair-weather fisherman from the hard-core trout bum. And yes, it often distinguishes the crazy from the sane. Let's face it, it takes a certain amount of mental instability to crack through ice, wade into 40-degree water and break ice out of your guides all day long. But there are distinct advantages to such craziness.

For one, you can fish in virtual solitude, even on notoriously crowded rivers like the Davidson. I fished the 'D' three times in the past two weeks without seeing another soul, much less another angler. My secret? I avoided the hatchery stretch. About 95% of the Davidson is abandoned during the winter and the fishing can be great. I caught several fish over 17" above Looking Glass last week, all on midge pupa and tiny Baetis nymphs. Never saw another angler. Most of my fish were in slow-moving pools or the outside seams of languid runs. Some ate BWO dries on top (a #20 Lawson's Thorax Baetis worked great), but most ate a #22 Cardinal Midge or a #24 Gnatty Bumpo on the bottom. Use enough shot that you're ticking occasionally and set on any little thing that looks odd. The takes in such cold water are very, very subtle. Another tip - there are a bunch of spring holes on the Davidson, where the incoming water is significantly warmer than the prevailing current. Where you find springs, you'll generally find willing takers even on bitterly cold days. How do you find these spring holes? Wet wade the river in the summer and you'll find spots that are distinctly cooler than surrounding areas. Such areas are treasure troves in the winter.

We've been hearing a lot about Delayed Harvest streams like the East Fork and Little River being "poached out" lately. This happens every winter, it seems. People go over there, use the same flies and techniques that worked for them last spring or fall, catch little to nothing and then chock it up to poaching. There's no doubt that poaching (and mishandling by law-abiding anglers) have thinned out the populations some, but our guides haven't had any trouble putting rank amateurs onto fish on the E. Fork, Little River or the Tuck this winter. We haven't fished the N. Mills, but get away from the campground and I'll bet there are fish to be had. The key is changing from a "freshly stocked" mindset to a "holdover" mindset. Forget woolly buggers and other streamers stripped upstream. That will produce the odd suicidal brook trout, but most DH fish have become too educated for such shenanigans. Likewise, leave the #12 Princes and #14 Red Fox Squirrels at home and tie up some #18 A.P. Nymphs and #20 TB black or green Copper Johns. Not only are these more likely to be taken by holdovers jaded by the old standbys, they more accurately represent the size, color and silhouette of naturals found this time of year, which are primarily small and dark. Check out our winter hatch chart for more insight. If you're still not hooking up, try trading out that giant red Thingamabobber or yellow yarn pom-pom for a small white football indicator. DH fish can and will become indicator-shy. With the water so clear, 6X tippet helps, too, though 5X usually is fine if you're getting good drifts.

We still have two spots open for our British Columbia destination trip, scheduled for Aug. 15-22. With our partners at Home Waters Guide Service in Fernie, Headwaters Outfitters is offering a special package rate: 6 nights of lodging in a luxury condo, with private baths and river views, and 5 days of guided fishing for cutties, rainbows and bulltrout, plus three squares a day and transportation from the airport in Kalispell, MT -- all for $1,800 per person (based on double occupancy, excluding taxes, tips and licenses.) If you've ever wanted to catch 30+ cutthroats in a day on dry flies, or tossing hoppers to 20-inch rainbows on a private ranch in Alberta sounds like fun, you need to get in on this trip. We have a great group of anglers signed up, so the company should be as fine as the fishing. Call Than for details at (828) 877-3106.

We have a bunch of special events coming up, most of which are totally free! On Feb. 12, we're sponsoring a special showing of "Red Gold," a documentary film by Felt Soul Media that follows Alaskan fishermen as they fight an open-pit copper and gold mine proposed for the headwaters of two Bristol Bay trout and salmon rivers. It starts at 7 p.m. and the film (in Surround Sound!), popcorn and candy are all free. Great footage of grizzlies, salmon runs and big rainbows being caught on the fly. Our free fly casting clinics are totally full now, even though we just added 12 more spots/2 more dates last week. But we still have room in our free "Guide Flies" fly tying classes. On Feb. 13, smallmouth guide Michael Sprouse will demonstrate how to tie his own "Mike's Hellgrammite," as well as the trusty Clouser minnow. All the materials necessary to tie the flies will be available for sale in handy pre-proportioned packets, but you don't have to tie along with Mike - just come and watch. There's still room in Mac's muskie fly class on March 113, too. You need a rotary vise for that one. Call to reserve a spot either day - (828) 877-3106.

Tight lines,
Than

The Ice Man Cometh

Until today, we've needed to lace up our ice skates to go fishing in the upper French Broad River valley. Thanks to record lows at night, most first-order streams are still completely iced over (except on south-facing slopes) and the Davidson, East Fork, North Fork and West Fork are all rimmed by mini-iceburgs and slush. Tread carefully, if you plan on fishing the lower 'D' or East Fork this weekend (bring studded boots if you have them.) The good news is the weather forecast for the next 10 days could not be better: highs in the 60s are predicted, with lows only in the 40s some nights, along with the promise of some badly-needed rain, too.

Water levels remain well below where they should be, thanks to our ongoing drought. NOAA still ranks our area as under "severe drought." The agency's latest Seasonal Drought Outlook predicts that Transylvania County will experience "ongoing drought with some improvement" from now through April, with rainfall "barely reaching above normal." The Davidson looks really sad right now, although there have been some good hatches of BWOs, midges, micro-stones and black flies in recent weeks. The East Fork, for some reason, has held water better, but fish populations are really thin compared to last fall. Poaching? Tons of people mishandling fish (throwing them up on the dirt or gravel for a digital creeling)? Natural predation? Probably all of the above, but there are still some fish to catch. You just can't stand around in one hole for very long, unless you've got risers to work. Please use good catch-and-release practices, which means not removing fish from the water if possible.

Our private waters on the North Fork are holding their own, despite lower-than-usual water levels and a fair amount of natural predation from kingfishers, otters, etc. Fishing on "The Farm" has been fair some days, great on others. Not unlike the heart of summer, except there has been less pressure from anglers, so the fish aren't as particular about fly selection or drifts. If you book it for a sunny day in late February when the first Paraleps are popping, you'll probably slay them if your casting skills haven't deteriorated too much over the winter. We had a killer BWO hatch up there on Wednesday, where the duns were drifting up against the lip of the ice flows and POOF! disappearing into the maw of a big rainbow hiding beneath. Pretty cool.

Probably the two best public streams, in terms of water levels and fish numbers, are the Tuck and the Chattooga Delayed Harvest sections. The Tuck was on fire in January until the mercury starting plunging, but it should be back to its old self this week. Nantahala Power is not supposed to be generating on either the East or West Fork this weekend, which means wade fishing will be ideal. On your way to the river, stop by and stock up on #16-#18 Purple Sparkle Princes, #16 Bloom's Olive Soft Hackles, #22 Copper Johns in black and green, and #18 Tungsten Bead Rainbow Warriors. If you see rising fish, try a Henryville Special with a small Griffith's Gnat or Midge Winker dropped off it.

Tight lines,
Than

March/April Guide Trips

Our water levels are hovering right where they should be for this time of year, a further sign that the worst of the drought is behind us. All the rainfall of late has been good for fishing, both on public streams such as the Davidson and on our private leased water. Quill Gordons, Blue Quills, BWOs, black caddis and midges are all hatching in good numbers, though I haven't experienced a "blanket hatch" of any species in the last two weeks, perhaps because of the record flooding we had on March 19. We had to postpone a bunch of trips thanks to the high water, which reached 1,000 cfs on the French Broad in Rosman!

Once the water had receded enough to fish it, I took Jimmy L. from Panama City FL up to the private waters for a full-day trip on March 27. Jimmy, who was one of the first people I ever floated down the Tuckasegee years ago, put more fish in the net than just about anyone thus far this season. I won't brag on him too much, but Jimmy didn't go more than 20 minutes without a fish on, including several large rainbows. I think he's spoiled now! We even got four fish to come up and eat a Quill Gordon dry after lunch. But most of the fish fell to nymphs, everything from Caddis Poopahs to a #18 Killer Mayfly Nymph, either dropped off a Thunderhead or fished under an indicator. Jimmy just back from an awesome trip to Chile, so he's had quite a month of fishing. 

On March 28, we hosted a father-son getaway for Justin C. and Mark S. and their two sons, Parker and Chandler. I took the dads up to our private waters for a full-day of fishing, while guide Sam Aiken coached the two boys during a 3-Hour School of Trout. Parker and Chandler learned to cast like a couple of pros, and even got a chance to tie their own stonefly nymphs under Sam's tutelage. Then they took their newfound skills over to a pond, where they caught some trout for dinner. Meanwhile, their dads learned how to nymph, Southern Appalachian style, and caught about 15 fish apiece over the course of the day. We lost a few bruisers, but everyone landed a trout over 17 inches. The next day, Justin and Mark took the boys on a canoe trip down to Hannah Ford. I'm sure the whole adventure will provide fond memories for the parents and kids for years to come.

April arrived with still more rain, but that wasn't about to stop Tom L. from Tallahassee from going fishing on the 3rd. I took Tom over to the East Fork, where we did some casting instruction and flipped a bunch of rocks while we discussed "matching the hatch." We found some pretty cool bugs, including a giant Pteronarcys stonefly nymph that was as long as my ring finger! Tom hooked and landed three trout on his first five casts, so I had a feeling it was going to be a good day. It turned out better than just good - it was sheer trout-catching anarchy. In one pool, Tom landed 10 brook trout on 10 drifts. We tried it all -- dead-drifting, swinging flies, stripping streamers -- and it all worked. The dry fly fishing wasn't great, because the constant rain kept knocking our flies underwater, but the nymph fishing was sensational. I'm not a fish counter, but suffice it to say that if the regulations weren't catch-and-release, Tom could have fed a small Third World family with what he landed.

On April 4, I had the pleasure of taking out two of my favorite repeat clients, William M. and Art D. from Birmingham, AL to the private waters. These fellas are hilarious and had me in stitches the whole trip! Things started off promising, with both guys landing a handful of 12-15" rainbows on a variety of nymphs and attractor patterns. There were Quill Gordons coming off (they were #16s, which is pretty small for that species) and a few Blue Quills; the fish were definitely looking for them. When we moved upstream, where the current was rushing through narrow sluices and runs, the fishing got increasingly difficult. Both men landed some nice trout, but it took lots of good drifts to get strikes. We lunched on the porch of the old cabin, safe from the pelting rain, and talked about Alabama politics, golf, fishing gear and former bosses. When we returned to the river, it was definitely running higher and slightly dirtier. We landed another 4 or 5 fish apiece, had quite a few fish come unbuttoned, and ended the day after the rushing flow became too difficult to fish. Besides, it was time for everyone to dry out and have a cold beer.

This month should continue to provide good-to-excellent fishing, as the water temperatures are hovering in the mid-50s, which is the ideal feeding range for trout. Moreover, some of our best hatches, including the March Browns and Hendricksons, are about to start. If you're interested in a guided trip, either on our private waters or one of the fantastic public streams in our area, give us a call at 828-877-3106.