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Early winter weather has slowed and even halted many of the fall hatches. This doesn’t mean the end to great fishing—just a change!
We are beginning to enter a winter trend, which means once the last few Fall Baetis have come and gone, we will have to wait for the winter Midge hatches to begin. This action generally revs up around the holidays and lasts until spring.
Silver Creek is still a great place to find a hatch or a rising fish in the late afternoon. Give the river plenty of time to warm up. You may still find some Fall Baetis, Mahogany Dun or even October Caddis, but it will be a short fishing window.
The best technique on the Creek moving toward winter will be Streamer fishing. With the brown trout coming off of spawn with empty bellies, and with the rainbows feeling the cold water, they should both begin to eat with abandon, throwing out all the caution they learned during the summer months.
The Big Wood River is a great place to finish the fall season. Try exploring with an H and L Variant and even try dropping a Hare’s Ear or Prince Nymph underneath it. Some of the first Midge hatches of the season start on the Big Wood, so keep an eye open and your fly box full. Zebra Nymphs, Tie-Down Midges and Griffith’s Gnats will be flies you want to stuff your box with between now and spring. Don’t forget to throw a few Coffies Sparkle Minnows in the mix as well!
The Lower Lost is a great winter fishery and a great place to get away and Nymph fish. There are some nice-sized rainbows in the system and they aren’t particularly fussy when the Midge becomes the only meal for them. With the cold this week, we aren’t far from that timeframe!
The South Fork of the Boise has been showing its awesome colors the past few weeks. The cold should slow things a bit on this river as well, but with the cold comes fewer anglers and more opportunity to fish up and down through the system. The flows are great for wading in the wintertime; just travel there with caution.
Like we always say this time of the season: Prepare to fish by having extra warm, dry clothes. Have a full tank of gas. Keep your cellphone charged and tell someone where you plan to winter fish.
Happy fishing, everyone!
