Breaking the Ice With Stones…

[Outdoor Talk Network by Jim Slinsky]
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Breaking the Ice With Stones…

By Jim Slinsky

May 05, 2003

The act of fly-fishing is a beautiful thing. It has been said shooting a rifle is a science, but shooting a shotgun is an art. If this is true, then the act of fly-fishing is both, art and science. I cannot think of another outdoor endeavor where physical skill must be matched with specialized techniques and a heavy dose of scientific knowledge. Fly-fishing is a specialty game and it will either hook you or turn you off.

If you are climbing the walls to get out, there is a solution. Fish the early stonefly hatch. Nymph fishermen catch some of the biggest trout of the year in the early season. This is no small task, however. Be sure to check the compendium for where it is legal before the opener.

Stoneflies are interesting critters in their own right. As water temperatures reach 40 degrees these bottom-crawling insects head for the shoreline. They crawl out onto shoreline rocks and break from their shucks to eventually fly away very awkwardly. Trout love to feed on stoneflies and gorge themselves on these first-to-emerge insects. Well-traveled trout fishermen will tell you stories about famous stonefly hatches across this nation. Wherever there are stoneflies, there are outsized trout looking for them to eat.

Remember that trout’s diet is mostly comprised of the things it can find below the surface. Some say 85% of a trout’s diet is nymphs. The worms, grasshoppers, minnows and other critters are just the forage trout consume as an opportunist. To be an all-around fly fisherman one must master the skills of nymphing. This is the most difficult of all fishing. Working a jig and pig down a ledge or “walking the dog” (zaraspook) is child’s play compared to nymphing. One must have the concentration skills of a diamond cutter to be successful.

I have read the books and tried the various techniques, but always gravitate back to the same basic method that works for me. I keep my line short, my rod tip high and follow the weighted nymph with my rod tip as is drifts downstream. I can’t seem to detect the strike with any other method. I probably miss more fish than I know about. I use nine-foot leaders with 18” of tippet down to 5X or smaller. Theoretically, the shallower the water the longer the leader. I keep the fly line out of the water. My strike indicator is somewhere on the leader marking the depth of the creek. In deep-water situations, you can go down to 6’ leaders and split shot to keep the nymph down in the rocks. Some use sinking line.

Watching the water carefully, will tell you how to nymph. Sometimes you will see the trout nose down, tail up, rooting on the bottom for nymphs. Sometimes you will see flashes at mid-depth as they turn sideways to take a nymph. Occasionally, you will see the surface bulging as they rise for a nymph drifting near the surface. These are good indicators how to fish.

Nymphs can be fished like a wet fly. You can drift them, retrieve them in jerks, lift the rod tip fast like it is an emerger heading for the surface. All of these methods have worked for me from time to time. Old reliable is still picking the tailout of a riff and dead drifting a nymph through a likely looking spot. Trout will eat stonefly nymphs all year long.

Water temperature can rise quickly on bright sunny days in the early spring. Sometimes 2-3 degrees will change the trout’s feeding routine. Sometimes temperatures can rise 10 on a blistering day. Now you will have the opportunity to expand your offerings. One cannot go wrong throwing a black wooly bugger. You can dead drift it or strip it in like a streamer. You can throw it upstream, downstream or across the stream. You can reach in your box for a muddler minnow, which sometimes is just deadly when small creek minnows are prevalent. Who knows, a hatch may even appear as the water warms up.

Every spring trout fishing is pretty much the same for me. Early season is cold and damp on the stream. Fish aren’t too active and nymphing is almost a must. Stoneflies are the mainstay of a trout’s early season diet and you should have nymphing skills in your arsenal. You can supplement your offerings with an array other nymphs imitating mayflies and caddis. Hare’s Ear, Pheasant Tail, Zug Bug, Prince Nymph and even brown and golden stonefly imitations are valuable. As the day and season wears on, the possibilities are challenging. Put enough time in and you will find yourself in the middle of a fabulous hatch of something. Investing the time to fish in this rewarding manner will pay you back many times over.

It all starts with the determination and dedication to learn how to nymph. If you become good at it, you can consider yourself part of an elite group of very talented fishermen. It is the most difficult of all fishing, bar none, but leads you down the path and life of the long rod.

Thrown stones, my friend, throw stones. If all of the above fails, I’m told one can use a San Juan Worm. Just don’t tell anyone I said so. I do not know what a San Juan Worm is.

Jim Slinsky is the host and producer of the “Outdoor Talk Network”, a nationally syndicated, outdoor-talk radio program. For a station near you or to contact Jim, visit his website at www.outdoortalknetwork.com.

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