Winter Fly Fishing in BRUTAL Conditions! (Trout Fishing)

Winter Trout Fishing in BRUTAL Conditions!!

Winter in the Appalachian mountains is bleak. As deer season rolls to a close the woods settle into silence. Everything switches into survival mode as the temperature plummets and snow blankets the landscape. But for the few fisherman willing to brave the elements… The rewards can be incredible.

Winter fishing can be fickle. As we fished up the creek we netted dozens of small trout, only one of which broke the 10 inch mark. Granted several of these fish were among the prettiest wild rainbows I’ve ever caught, but the size just wasn’t there. On the final stretch of the day, when we had pretty much given up hope of seeing any sizable fish, we finally got a break…

Typically when the water temperature drops into the 30’s I start to hole hop. That’s because the fish slow down and sit in the deepest / slowest sections of the creek or river. I’m not saying they’ll never sit in fast water, but the amount of fish sitting in riffles drops off dramatically. This allows you to predict where the fish are going to be and spend more time in high fish density areas. Even just picking out deeper sections of an otherwise shallow section of creek can yield some big fish… much like the last fish I caught in this video. Just something to keep in mind while you’re out fishing this winter. If you want to make these tips at the end of the video a common occurrence, leave a comment and let me know. Thanks for watching!

#fishing #flyfishing #troutfishing

[Black-March]

Winter fishing can be insane, I was fishing at a snow covered mountain in Norway the other day, 1100 ASL and entire lakes covered in thick enough that you can drive a car on it. But from the road I could see a tiny hole in the river which wasn't covered in ice, about a 50 meter stretch. Had to wade in snow up to my hips just to get down there and do a couple of casts. But I was rewarded for doing so, got a 49 cm trout weighing in at 1.4 kilos. Definitely the most insane fishing experience of my life.

[michaelsmith]

First of all, thank you for all your videos of 2022! You and Andrew gave us a very good year of travel and fly fishing adventures. Greatly appreciated — and I look forward to your outings in 2023!

[colinstaley]

Love the tips! Always looking to improve in any way I can!

[inthemwoods]

Love the video. Beautiful fish. Please keep giving tips. I've been fly fishing for over 12 years now, but I still learn something new all the time.

[WildBlueDiscovery]

Nice video! Good job braving the cold. Tips are good! Tightlines

[aaronbarrett]

Really enjoy all the videos! Thanks for all the insights and showing the fish. Any tips you can share are greatly appreciated for us that are newer to fly fishing and need those tips.

[ryanthecox]

Man. Great fight with that fish. Some River Runs Through It stuff. Awesome.

[markm]

Incredible fish thank you. I often think we should carry a little some kind of fish food to reward a hungry winter fish with what it wanted! Probably impossible. Anyway the tips i would love to see are how you decide when you approach a place based on what you're seeing, like here's why i think a fish is in this spot, i'm going to try to cast this thing here and as the current moves it/lets it sink i'll... then, you know, what the concept is of what you're trying to show the fish. These are great videos and much appreciated, i know theyre a lot of hard work.

[swrsr]

Like your comments. Since I’m just getting started fly fishing I can use all the advise you can gives. Thanks!

[zumalot]

Something I never got to do was fish in the winter. I'm glad you did. Very nice rainbow.

[scotthamilton]

Thank you for a great year content. I look forward to the year to come and more videos. Happy New Year!

[cellensmith]

We just came off of a stream in Elkins, WV a couple of hours ago and found your video. Glad to see that it was filmed here! As newbies to fly fishing, it gives my husband and I hope for future winter trips. Thanks for the content!

[FlyFishMd]

Just getting fully into fly fishing your videos are by far the best on YouTube keep it up man

[patjordan]

That big rainbow was a beautiful perfect fish! Thanks!

[Thunderinme]

Great Content about fishing im fisherman but this videos is so great ✅

[briljantje]

Super video! I really admire your perserverance.

[johnbruce]

Great video. It is closed season for trout in the UK between the end of September and the end of March. However, we do have winter grayling and they dearly love a pink nymph. Sometimes the pinker the better, things like 'the grayling bomb' which is a shrimp imitation but will catch unintended trout as well. After your amazing experience it might be worth trying that fly out in your mountain streams. It catches me lots of fish. ATB.

[kyleautrey]

Great video! Winter fishing is tough physically and mentally!

[adamcoons]

Nice a video from my favourite YouTuber and fly fisherman. Watching this on my way to bday dinner. Hopefully going to get on some steelhead tomorrow the rain got the best of my today.

[fishandflywithgus]

Incredible video and that last fish was 🔥🔥