Ok, it's freezing in Florida right now. That doesn't really matter because it's January in the Black Hills. It's always cold here. Today we saw a break in the weather, and there's a cold front moving in overnight. That opened up the opportunity for some seriously hot fishing in the Hills today. We'll get into it below.
Weather Data
As mentioned above, we used the impending doom (the cold front) to our advantage on today's outing. Knowing that it warmed up overnight, the stream was ripe for the picking. It stayed a fairly steady 37 degrees throughout the day, but the temperature did drop to around 35 degrees after the noon hour. Mid-morning gave us some moisture to work with in the form of snow. So, there you have it. - recipe for success!
Water Data
The snow isn't really going anywhere. During the warm spells you'll see some melt, but it doesn't dissipate quickly enough to impact stream clarity. Also, the gradual melt has minimal impact on water depth. Flows may increase some, but it won't be a substantial amount. Using the weather data collected from the forecast, it was clear the water would be a touch warmer than it was yesterday. I measured the water at different intervals, and we settled on 36.5 degrees in the top of the water column. So, it was cold.
Given this information, I knew today could be good. I wasn't counting on it being as good as it was.
Fly Rig and Method Data
A note for new readers - I always swing 2 flies. Always. So, when I start pushing out visual data, you're going to see a 2 fly rig 99% of the time. Today was no different. I rigged up with a single shot on the leader, a red squirmy worm as the lead fly, and a Frenchie I tied as the dropper. This setup, as mentioned in other posts, allows me to cover multiple columns of water depending on the tippet length. I 12" tippet sections for most of the day.
Remember a couple posts ago when we talked about reading water? Yeah, I know you don't ( I don't either :)). This is where your method is going to pay dividends. Listen, the water I generally fish....is gin clear with a touch of green in deeper holes. You have to be mindful of this when prospecting for trout. Clear water means keeping a low profile - for you and your gear. Avoid putting too much fly line on the water, else you risk spooking the fish. With this information in mind....I went straight to high-sticking. For beginners, high sticking is derived from tight-line (or euro) nymphing. It's commonly referred to as Czech nymphing. I'm long-winded, so here's a good resource to help you figure out how to Czech nymph: High Sticking The long and short of it is this - get your flies deep (with upstream mends), keep line off the water, and maintain contact with your indicator or bugs. You do all this by raising your rod tip high - hence the name high sticking. It's a deadly tactic when done correctly.
Getting Fishy - Data about today's fish
If you're looking for a romantic "trout sipping a mayfly off the top" story - this ain't it. Looking at our rig data above, you know we were gettin' down and gettin' fishy. These browns were hungry, and they weren't consolation prize fighters. It didn't take long before I knew if would be a banner day (for a winter day). I was only out for approximately 3 hours today - between 10am and 1pm. In that time I managed to put 8 Brown Trout in the net. Fish varied in size, but most were between 12 to 14 inches. I did have two bucknasty browns (see here for a bucknasty explanation) at 17 and 18 inches, respectively. It was a toss-up when it came to the fish choosing their artificial poison. Half the time they took the squirmy worm, and half the time they took the Frenchy. What this tells us is that fish were feeding actively in two distinct water columns. That's not uncommon, and it's a key reason for using two flies. You can maximize your results by fishing a tandem.
Overall Thoughts
Today was good. It was better than I imagined it would be. Also, and a few who know me are aware, I recently started tying flies again. I'm terrible, but those flies are catching fish. This instills a sense of pride and accomplishment like no other. Listen, we know Brown Trout aren't Stephen Hawking, but they aren't dumb, either. So, it's nice to see I'm able to fool a Brown with my own creation. Fishing isn't almost never about results. It's about the journey. The journey is an effort to better ourselves, clean our souls, and center our spiritual axiom. As Tolstoy once mentioned: "The most important time is now."
Here's a quick vid from today:
Keep 'em wet,
MB
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