Where Can I Fly Fish in Winter?

Wondering where to go winter fly fishing in Montana, North Idaho and Eastern Washington?

"Tail waters below dams- there's a couple spots on the Missouri that are pretty good," says Max from Simms.

For this one we gotta wade through a little bit of inter-shop one-ups-manship.

Fred from Great Falls: "Between Craig and Holter Dam winter nymphing and streamer fishing is even better than fishing in the summer. Dry fly fishing is just too easy when you can see 'em rising to the flies."<-- He said that with a straight face. Stone cold, Fred. Stone Cold.

Where to Fish in CDA When It's Snowing

Then we got Nick from CDA: "If you get a chance, best winter fishing is out on the Spokane River on the tail waters. If you want to get on the CDA, you gotta fish low on the system maybe 5 to 10 miles max."

Matt and I weren’t sure why there is a "max" on the system so I called Nick at the CDA shop to follow up.

"They stop plowing the CDA Road at the Shoshone camp about thirty miles up, but typically of these cutthroats migrate down river to these deeper holes, not counting the resident fish, so most fish are down lower."

This is where I learn two words and a lot about fish. Nick says to me, "Let me break down these cutthroat for you guys, might make it easier."

• There are adfluvial fish half time in stream and half time in lake means they migrate between both.
• Then there are fluvial fish- They don’t go all the way to the lake, just between rivers and down towards the lake to deeper holes where they winter.
• Resident fish don’t leave their riffle their entire life cycle they will stay there unless pressured out by fishing or predators.

This fishy breakdown DID clarify it for me- if you fish low in the system, you are accessing 2/3 cutthroat migratory patterns the adfluvial and fluvial fish will be both down and around there, so fishing low means greater odds in the cold weather months. BAM.

All jokes aside, what’s a common theme between the lines on this? We are looking at tailwaters because here in the Northwest, most free stone rivers are closed, close to freezing or completely iced out.

Fish Tailwaters in the Winter to Catch Fish

Tailwaters are a constant fishery in our neighborhoods because the water is coming from the bottom of the lake/river where it is warmed up by the geothermal temperature surrounding it.

Want some tips?

• You have to slow your roll when it’s cold. Trout are cold blooded and move to the deeper, slower waters when it is sub 40 degrees- They try not to move around very much in winter so they can conserve energy.
• Try nymphing smaller patterns, around #16-24 insect variety is limited so stick with what works.
• Or swing streamers: Woolie Buggers or Pat’s Rubberlegs aughta do it.

Word Fact Extra #3: Fluvial- this is almost directly over from late 14^c. Latin fluvial, fluvius "of a river, or pertaining to a river," and we all know ad- is just a Latin prefix meaning towards, so adfluvial fish return towards the river from the lakes while fluvial fish stay in the rivers and streams.