Winter is looming

The days are getting shorter and we are about to rolls the clocks back.  For most fly fisherman this means it's time to take apart their rods and reels, patch their waders, and start to tie flies for next spring. Here are a few things that you can do during the winter months to make you a better trout angler when the spring rolls around again.

1. Practice your casting.  Believe it or not more fish are caught when the fly is in the water then when the fly is tangled up in an angler's hand.  Keep a rod rigged up and ready to cast so you can get outside and work on casting during warmer afternoons or in short stints.  Even 20 minutes of practicing a few times per month will keep you in form and improve your cast for next season. And don't be self conscious about casting in your front yard, I have been the butt of many jokes by people passing by my house when I am casting to targets in my flowerbeds.
    
   While practice casting with a dry fly or piece of yarn is great it doesn't always mimic real world conditions (dry fly purists can move onto #2 now).  If you normally only fish a single fly you should really work on casting multiple fly rigs.  Fishing multiple flies offers so many advantages and will really help to improve your fishing, but you guessed it, is much harder to cast then a single fly.
    
   Here is a typical practice setup (illustration below) Take two old beat up bead head nymphs and cut off their hooks.  Tie one onto the end of your leader, then tie another 12-20" of tippet to the eye of the first fly, and finally tie on the second fly (you can also tie on the second fly from the hook bend in the first fly, but since you are practicing with hook less flies you will need to tie them eye to eye). I also recommend putting a split shot on the leader as well and if you normally fish with an indicator put that on too.  This will help give you a real world environment for casting two nymphs with weight.  You can also change out the first fly to a dry and remove the weight to practice casting a dry - dropper rig.
    
   
   
2. Do some reading.  The following books are filled with some of the best information and tactics for fly fisherman anywhere in the world.
   • "Sight Fishing for Trout" by Landon Mayer
   • "Tying & Fishing Tailwater Flies" by Pat Dorsey
   • "Fly Fishing the Book Series" by Gary Borger
   
    
3. Go out and do some fishing - "There is no such thing as bad weather....only bad clothing decisions".  I love winter fishing because the crowds are generally gone, especially on lesser known rivers, and both tailwaters and spring creeks both offer good trout fishing in the winter. Some tailwaters fish just as good, if not better, in the winter than they do in the summer. Your tactics will have to change a little and you will need to add a few layers of clothing, but if you can catch fish in the winter you can surely catch them in the spring.

Don't just spend your winter just waiting around, instead do a few things so you can catch more trout in the spring, summer and fall.