These are some of the best days on the water, in December and January, when a lot of other sportsmen are watching football. Fly-rodders watch the weather and hope for a hatch of midges and look forward to the little black stoneflies, but there are better ways to tempt bigger trout in December and January. Plastic worms and minnows can tease big trout out from beneath the undercut banks and beads, tailored to size and color can turn on the bite.
TWITCHING PLASTIC
Plastic worms tend to produce as many fish as natural baits. And you don’t have to dig through the compost pile to find them.
Adapted from steelhead drift fishing the best rig is a six-pound main line tied to a barrel swivel. A sliding sinker on the main line is a good way to get the bait down but another option is to leave a tag on the main line knot and crimp on removable split shot. The leader should be 20 inches long terminated at a No. 10-8 single egg hook.
Rig to drift the edge of a seam with just enough weight to tickle the tops of the rocks. Jeff Warner, founder of X Factor Tackle, relies on three main colors in cold winter water – hot red, fluorescent pink, and natural worm.
Warner’s go-to for brown trout on his home water is a 1/16-ounce jig head on a No. 4 hook and an X-Factor Teaser minnow. He fishes without a float.
“In my experience, it is better to allow the bait to do its work as an injured bait fish. I don’t want a natural drift, I want violent rips and jerks. It’s why I like the lightweight jig. I don’t need it to be down on the bottom. It lets the bait look more erratic than it does with a heavy jig head.”
Jeff Warner
Warner’s favorite on a bright sunny day is motor oil with red flake. Warner recommends a plastic minnow in the tail-outs and along the seams and ripping it back.
“I like to cast it upriver and then work the clock so to speak. Even cast it straight downriver and twitch it. If I don’t catch a fish by that time there ain’t one in there.”
Jeff Warner
The bite can be hard to detect. Keep the index finger on the line to stay in touch with the rocks and set the hook at the least tug that signals a grab.
FLY ROD EGGS/BEADS
When fishing egg imitations and hard beads, the big challenge is to get them at the level the fish are holding and allow a dead-drift presentation.
Try to position the bead about two inches above the hook. This can be accomplished in several different ways. One easy way to do it is to nail knot a piece of clear mono on the leader and position it two inches above the hook acting as a stop.
Set the indicator (a good one is the easy-to-cast plastic Thingamabobber) and put split shot on above the tippet knot (or swivel) and set the float about the depth of the water.
When the trout bites the bead the angler reacts with a short upward lift which tends to pull the bead through and pin the hook in the outside corner of the mouth.
With whitefish spawning in western rivers in late January and February we have bait to match. Trout that key on whitefish spawn get used to gobbling the yellow eggs and its why some fly-fishermen tie on yellow wet flies in February without knowing the reason why the trout are biting. Summer steelhead may also spawn in January and February, in which case, the trout are eating orange eggs. In any case, small orange beads or tiny yellow eggs can turn a rainbow’s head this month.
SOFT PLASTIC BEADS
One of the greatest moments in drift fishing is to watch a trout peel away from its holding lie and follow a soft orange egg downstream then crush it. A squishable, scented egg imitation tumbled along the gravel with a drift fishing rig or a bottom-walking drop shot setup is a good bet in December.
My favorite hook for this work is a Daiichi salmon egg bleeding bait hook sized No. 12 up to No. 8. Again, the soft bead is best positioned two inches above the hook, which can be accomplished by using a nail knot, a blood knot, a sequin or similar bead stopper.
One of the mistakes we make is using an indicator in shallow, clear water. If the fish and the bottom is visible, dispense with the indicator and just watch for the take.
A mistake we often make is allowing the weight to control the movement of the egg. This is why a sliding sinker is sometimes the best choice. And why a drop shot weight might be the best choice with a tag end of a surgeon’s knot used to splice on a bit of 4-pound fluoro. That bait should present as freely as possible in multiple braided currents. The egg wants to be free!
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