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This column applies to everybody
except those who live on the West Coast, where they don’t do
winter and get to fish twelve months of the year. The rest of
us, however, are faced with limited opportunities for wetting
a line, such as on Ontario rivers for fall-run Great Lakes
steelhead, for trout on the Bow River during a Chinook, or
hatchery rainbows in stocked ponds, and even these have
largely disappeared by the end of December when the hard
freeze and blizzards set in.
Fortunately, there’s plenty to occupy the fly fisher during
the long winter dark. This is the time for taking stock of the
previous season, for reflecting on our fly fishing experiences
and learning from them. This is the time for expanding our
knowledge by reading, watching videos, and talking to other
fly fishers. This is the time for caring for and repairing
equipment and planning new purchases for the spring. And,
especially, this is the time for honing and expanding our fly
tying skills, as well as tying up a good inventory of flies
for use in the coming season.
Look after that Equipment
Most rods and reels will last for years provided they’re cared
for. Most of the procedures are simply a matter of common
sense. Rods are easy—just wipe them down, check for wear on
the guides and windings, and hang them in a cool dry place in
their bags. Reels should be taken apart, thoroughly cleaned,
and very lightly oiled with light machine oil. Lines should be
taken of the reel, cleaned, and either wound back on the reel
or stored on a line winder. Check the knot between the backing
and the line and, preferably, remove the leader, storing it
separately.
Remove any used flies from the patches on your vest and put
them back in the appropriate boxes. Damaged ones can be put on
one side for cleaning or repair—at very least, you’ll be able
to reuse the hook, provided it’s not bent or blunted.
Explore and Regenerate
Winter provides time to reflect back on the previous
season’s fishing—about what worked, what didn’t, and why. This
is crucial to making informed plans for the next season. If
you’ve kept a fishing journal, making an entry after every
trip, recording conditions, flies, techniques and other useful
information, this task will be much easier and vastly more
productive than if you haven’t.
While you can read or watch videos at any time of the year,
winter is the best time. Reading to expand your knowledge is
important, but don’t neglect anecdotal and reflective content,
for it is these which keep the imagination fired.
Winter is also a good time for talking to other fly fishers,
as they’ll be stuck indoors suffering from cabin fever just
like you. As they’re unable to get out on the water, they’ll
be much more readily available and motivated to talk fishing.
Clubs are great places to meet other fly fishers and pick
their brains—so are fly shops, which will also have
information about clubs in your area. Most clubs and many fly
shops have free fishing and tying seminars throughout the
winter.
Fill Your Fly Boxes
During the season, while tying flies in response to what
you’ve experienced out on the water is an integral part of the
game, playing catch-up to fill empty fly boxes is not. The
time to fill up your fly boxes is in the off months of winter.
Set yourself a tying programme, designed to ensure that you
can produce sufficient quantities of your most used patterns
by the time the new season rolls around, ensuring that your
fly boxes will be full on opening day.
Winter is also the time to hone your tying skills. First, you
should practice and perfect your ability to tie the patterns
you know. At the same time you should attempt new patterns.
One option is to tackle some of the patterns in the tying
sections of this issue or back issues of The Canadian Fly
Fisher, or in the many fly tying books available. Other
options include taking in tying sessions run by fly fishing
clubs and many fly shops, or in the real-time, on-line tying
sessions offered on our sister Web-site
www.flytyingforum.com
Hang in there! Spring isn’t that far away.
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