Well what does that window look like in the winter? We're taught to fish 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. and find that blessed day when the flows are steady and the mercury flirts with 40F. Let's face it - what are the chances that the stars align so that particular weather crosses with your fishing time? I went with the cards I was dealt, and I arrived streamside at the Croton at 8:30 a.m. with a dusting of snow at 30 degrees F.
As soon as the temperatures finally crossed freezing, a light drizzle ensued. I had noticed that the water was slightly dirty and then I thought back to the the USGS graph, which showed two releases in three days prior to my morning on Dec. 1.
It was only 33-F degrees when I left in the afternoon.....
So, it sounds like I'm setting myself up for a story about how I whiffed (and it was the conditions' fault, of course) but that wasn't the case. I showed up at my first hole and the bite was on! I hooked five trout in my first 30 minutes. Frustratingly, I landed only two of the five.
I was using my own rubberleg stonefly but after the third escape-ee, I inspected the fly only to find that--like a numbskull-- I used too much body material and tied too far down into the bend. That was not allowing the hook to "seat" itself and hook the trout securely into the gap of the hook- I was just pricking them. Thus, I ripped off my stonefly. Unfortunately, all of its siblings also had the same affliction. I must have been asleep at the vise that evening! Tough teaching moment, in cold weather.
But, I should take that as a compliment in a backwards way because I somehow went for the next four hours without another bite on any other fly! I stopped and ate a sandwich, and between chomps told myself that I have to get my stone back on and try again and take my chances. I looked down and saw that Bathtub Pool was open and that I could have it to myself if I jumped in it. Sure enough, took the chance with my stone and was nicely rewarded!
Other miscellaneous items of the day....
I saw evidence of only one other fish caught on the entire horseshoe the whole day. In fact, I don't think anyone other than I fished for more than two hours. But, the angler with the fish was a monster rainbow - probably 18"-- caught on a Maribou Muddler streamer dead-drifted with a sink tip line. That's always something I like about streamers, man.... they are all-weather, all-condition. You always have that puncher's chance when you're throwin' the junk.
I had a brief stint with streamers and struck out.
During said stint with streamers, I broke a personal streak of mine in a bad way. I had made it 13 consecutive fishing months without taking a dunk in the river. That ended when I did a 180 and fell on my keester about an hour before I left. As if 33-degree air and 36-degree water weren't cold enough, fishing with an icy left arm made it that much more interesting!
I will close out this post with hopefully just a constructive thought. Again, going back to winter fishing basics, we all read and observe that we want to find the slower, deeper pools, and get our offering down to the fish. But, all six hookups yesterday were in some decent current, which I couldn't resist trying. The trend that I will want to monitor throughout the limited winter trips I make is:
Do we really want to target slow, deep pools where 90% of the fish are in their slumber, or do we want to target moderate currents, where 10% of the fish could be located- but they are purposefully there to feed?
This site is excellent for questions. Answers are a work in progress!
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