Foul Weather Fishing

One of the most pleasant things so many of us enjoy are those rare bluebird days when the sun is shining, warm air surrounds us and cool breezes bring fresh air into our lungs, but unfortunately most of the time good fishing days do not usually involve these conditions. Many of us know some of the best fishing to be had is in foul weather but few of us venture out to brave these nasty elements. We have all heard the stories and listened to our elders in the coffee shop talk about the old days and the weather they “had” to brave to catch fish. Most of us roll our eyes and the most common argument I have heard is “fish gotta eat.“ This is true but think of it like this. Every once in a while we have to walk through a dark alley to get where we are going but most of us are a lot more careful and a hell of a lot more attentive when put in that situation. Trout experience the same thing, when the sun is shining its hard for the fish to see us therefore they are much more cautious and the same can be said for temperature. Most people cannot stand to be out in extremely cold weather and are a lot more sluggish when we do because our bodies are not built to handle that environment, it’s the opposite for trout. Ill admit the inspiration for this post comes from the fact that I looked out the window this morning and bailed out on a fishing for the day.
I’m not telling any of you something you don’t know but I am saying something we all forget from time to time. We make excuses for just wanting to be out enjoying the day so to speak and for some that’s true but its these same anglers that I have heard time and time again complaining about how poor the fishing was and in a much more expletive manner most of the time.
So lets get to the point. The reason we should all be out in cold and nasty weather is because the fish are more calm and relaxed and for the purpose of this post, the bugs are much more active. Fish get more and more accustomed to seeing flies as the season wears on and even in the worst of weather they learn what’s right and what is not (lucky for us season to season they have short term memory). With that said its usually the early season that we have the most success. The fish are cool and happy and don’t discriminate in their meal choices that much. Unfortunately we still have to walk a fine line, trout in western New York at least don’t rise well in water temperatures below 50 degrees and above 65, that of course is a general guideline and we all know good dry fly fishing can be found occasionally outside of this window.
So what we are looking for is a timeframe when the water is warm enough for the fish to rise well, overcast weather for dry flies and with a little rain mixed in there can be some awesome nymph fishing. Lucky for us some of the more important hatches of the year happen during this temperature window. Red Quills, Sulphurs, Hendricksons, Blue Winged Olives, and most notably Paraleptophlebia are all early hatches during the ideal temperature range. Hell, Sulphurs and Hendricksons can be some of the most spectacular hatches of the year but my favorite has to be the Paraleps. The pretty bugs are known as the blue quill and on most streams represent the first significant hatch of the year. Keep an eye out, they will be coming to a stream near you!