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LOS Chapter Newsletter

January 2005 

 Soft Bodied Foam Poppers

Anthony Hipps of the Nat Greene Chapter in Greensboro was the program  speaker at January's meeting. His topic was  "How to Tie Unique, Beautiful and Effective Soft Bodied Foam Poppers and Trout Flies in Less Than 5 Minutes per Fly". He gave tips on how to use these flies for bass, panfish, and trout. If the cold weather has limited your fishing time, then you need to switch to tying up flies. Below is the letter he wrote after the meeting:

Dear Starr and John

Thank you for inviting me to do a presentation for the Land O Sky TU Chapter.  I really enjoyed the time shared with you and the chapter Monday night.  I hope that my presentation was of benefit to everyone.  Y'all have a good club and I expect you will grow in numbers as the word gets out about your group.  If I can be of any service in the future either with a club meeting or Saturday seminar, please feel free to call on me.  I would enjoy the opportunity of meeting with your chapter again.  Starr, I regret I couldn't get free earlier to enjoy some fishing with you.  I hope we can fish together in the future. 

Attached is the schematic for tying the soft-bodied popper.  You can share this one with the club and even post it in your newsletter if you wish.  Tell the gang to call me at home or e-mail me if they have any problems tying the flies I demonstrated or if they have suggestions for improvement.

God Bless and Tight Lines

Anthony Hipps

If you would like to the schematic of the popper and to view some pictures of the flies he tied click  here and then select the bass and pan fish link.

How to Comfortably Fish in the Winter

Steve Parrott

Winter fishing can be a bear if you are not properly dressed.  As we have all heard before, you have to layer, layer, layer, which is a good idea.  If you are planning on fishing in 5mm neoprene waders and walking for some distance, you will not need much layering.  On the other hand, most of the breathable waders on the market are really not that warm which will require layering.  If you are hot natured, a mid-weight  capilene bottom and top with a long sleeve shirt and  jacket will do. 

Some of us are not as warm natured and require a little more.  The expedition weight capilene fleece is the way to go.  This stuff is warm and will wick what  sweat you do produce away from your body. 

As for you feet, a good pair of  heavy weight Merino wool socks with a polypro liner sock should do the trick.  Remember not to lace you boots as tight as you usually do in the warmer months since you have more bulk to deal with now.

Make sure that your head is covered with a some type of hat.  90 percent of your body heat is lost through your head.  Gloves are also an option if your hands get real cold.  There are several manufactures that make a fingerless glove with a mitt that you can fold over your fingers to warm them up.

Take breaks while you are fishing and get out of the water.  The cold temperatures of the water  combines with the cold air temperatures will rob what body heat you have.  Take along a thermos with a hot beverage in it like coffee or tea to warm your insides and make sure you have a little something to eat to give your body some fuel.

I know all of this sound a bit extreme when it is nice and warm inside,  but when you can fish your favorite piece of water and not see another sole, it is a feeling that is indescribable.

Fishing in the Winter Months

Steve Parrott

With winter just around the corner, most will hang up the fishing gear and call it a season.  For those hard core anglers who just can’t get enough, you will be greatly rewarded. Although the fishing tends to be a little slower, you will find a whole new generation of insect larvae moving around the stream bottom , actively feeding and growing, even with the cooling water temperatures.  There are also a few species that emerge as adults through the winter.  The hatches will not be as dense as during the summer but they can still prompt a trout to rise to a dry.

Fishing in the morning will be one of the coldest times of the day.  Since the insects and fish are cold-blooded, their body temperatures will be the same as the water temperature so they will not be very active.  When the first few rays of sun hit the water and it begins to warm, the fish will also begin to move and feed.  The main source of food will be the nymphal form of the insects that are on the bottom or drifting in the currents.  It may be beneficial to seine some insects from the water column to see what in most abundant.  With the insect populations being more diverse during the winter months, figuring out just what the fish might be feeding on may take a little more time to figure out.  You will certainly polish your nymph fishing skills during the winter.  With the trout being sluggish due to the colder water, the take will be subtle and you will practically have to drift the nymph right in front of the fish because they are not going to move far to feed.  Make sure you are using some sort of strike indicator or you will miss a lot of the takes.

With the arrival of midday, the water temperatures will have risen, the fish should be more active and any insects that are going to hatch should between 11:00 and 2:00.  You should not have a problem determining what insects are hatching since there is usually one Predominant species on the water.  When the weather turns cold, you should look for three species of bugs: midges, winter stoneflies and blue winged olives.   If you see midges on the water, make sure you collect a sample of the naturals floating downstream to determine their exact size and color.  To make the most of fishing midges, fish the pupa just under the surface with a small dry or indicator on top during the hatch. 

Fishing the midge pupa in the surface is another very effective tactic in the winter because the naturals tend to hang longer in the surface film due to the colder water temperatures.  There are also a lot of stillborn adults that cannot escape from their pupal shucks and are either dead or dying in the surface film.  A hatching midge pattern can be very effective to imitate this.  

The winter stoneflies are usually very small and dark brown to black in color.  They will emerge and fly to the bank to mate.  A dark colored stonefly patter in a size 16 to 20 can be very productive.  Just tie a pattern using peacock hearl for the body and put a very sparse wing on the top out of dark deer hair of CDC.

The Blue Winged Olive hatch in the winter can be a real joy.  Depending on the stream, hatches will usually occur between November and March with some of the hatches almost reaching those that occur in the spring.  Always start fishing with a small BWO nymph until the hatch starts.  It would be wise then to switch to a BWO emerger just under the surface.  When the trout really begin to key on the adults floating on the surface, switch to a dry, something like a comparadun BWO or a parachute BWO in the correct size.  Make sure you make a good presentation and get a drift right down a trout’s feeding lane when fishing dries since the fish are still going to be sluggish with the colder water temperatures .

When the sun begin to disappear, the stream will begin to cool quickly as well as the hatches.  The usual spinner falls of spring and summer will generally not happen at duck during the winter.  If they have not happened by late afternoon, they will usually wait until the next day.   During this period, you may want to switch back to fishing nymphs near the bottom or just head home and warm yourself up.

Local Flies Page

We are adding pictures to this page. We want the pictures to be of flies tied by LOS TU members. Please submit your ties. If it is a pattern we do not have listed yet submit a recipe also. Thanks Brad S.