Menu change….

One nice thing about winter fishing, is a limited menu for the fish.
Much of the season, we fly folks spend a fair amount of time, trying to discover exactly what fish want to eat…
Speculating on a menu of several dozen food forms on the Truckee.
Not so during winter….
But that doesn’t mean it’s totally easy out there.
Where a younger fish may be a bit less selective and more easily catch-able, the wiser multi-year fish know very well what nature is offering for them to eat.
That requires us to make a good fly choice, and present it correctly if we want to meet our fish of dreams..
For months it has been Midges, and Baetis (our smallest mayfly), and some Golden stone nymphs, with a few worms thrown in….
A sure sign of progress through winter is the appearance of our “Little Winter Stone”.
Small and very dark is a good description.

I haven’t served a nymphal stage to them yet (there is always more research to be done), but I often fish an adult dry, or more often, an adult drowned…
The nymphs overnight in the snow. It’s amazing to watch them burrow down, as the shadows get longer towards evening.
These stones start fluttering about mid-morning, to oviposit (lay eggs) on “warm” sunny days…34deg. and up…
(It can still be pretty chilly for a bug.)
Give these a try, fish like variety just like we do….and “it’s better to be on the beginning of the hatch curve, than the end”.

Speaking of the curve..
Captured a Skwalla nymph in the shallows near shore, this week.
Add a Skwalla nymph to your winter box.
They are on the menu as soon as they start migrating towards shore to emerge.
One miss-step, and they become a big protein fix for trout.
Letting you know as well, so you can tie up some dries for their timely debut, about 3-4 weeks out.
Fish are really hungry by this time of year, and the Nymph/Adult is sought eagerly by the fish..
The Skwalla is the first real sight fishing with a dry (that you can see…) most seasons..
But not always..
If the spring melt occurs during emergence, oh well….
This bug is one of my favorites all year.
More on it later…

Looks like there won’t be much snow coming soon…
It is a little too early to tell, but this could mean a low snow pack for the year..
You never know in the Sierras what weather will bring.
That’s why, I believe in fishing while you can….
Like now..