Winter Fishing, Part 2

As a follow up to the Winter Fishing article, I'd like to mention a few other things I failed to mention.  The most important item I missed was how important it is to take extra clothes on your trip.  In the summer, cooling off by getting your hat or shirt wet is refreshing.  Landing a fish in the cold winter weather, can be  brutal.  I remove my gloves and carefully unhook the fish.  By getting my hands wet, and exposing them to the cold air and then having water run down your sleeve can be very unpleasant.  At the end of the day, wet clothes and wet skin is not fun.  Even worse, if you have leaky waders or happen to take a spill, and you don't have extra clothes, a wet trip home can be miserable.  Even worse, if you are out somewhere away from your vehicle and take a spill, you have to walk back to the car in the cold weather possibly putting your self at the risk of getting hypothermia.  Just remember how it feels when your hands get a little wet by releasing a few his.  I have been to the point where I cannot even tie knots or tie on new flies to my tippet.

Stolen picture from the web, but just to show you.  

Another thing to remember is that you should never wear cotton as a layer in your system.  Jeans are especially a no-no in the winter.  Just imaging getting them wet.  Jeans are hard enough to dry in the summer or in the dryer!  A t-shirt as a layer is also dangerous.  If you walk briskly, that shirt traps all of your body moisture and you get that cold, clammy feeling.  It will not dry out until you take it off.
Carrying 2 rods can be helpful for those days when you have to nymph in the morning and may need a dry fly rod just in case.  This is more helpful in the summer, but there are those times I wish I had a dry fly rod rigged, ready to go, just in case.
Another product that may be helpful to you is the little hand warmers that you can buy and stuff into your pockets and you can even get some toe warmers you can place in your boots to keep your toes warm.  I have had some good success with these stuffed into my waders, but remember that if you have to tight a boot, it is detrimental to what you are trying to accomplish.  Blood flow is what keeps your feet warm.  No blood=no fun.  Make sure to have room to wiggle your toes or anything you do to keep your feet warm, will backfire.  To sum it all up, use layers.  Synthetic base layers are best.  Fleece is your friend.  Down is warm and toasty, A Gore-Tex shell is worth a million bucks on some days, and Windstopper is a lways good to have when the wind is blowing.  Gloves, hats and layers are all you need to get out on the water and do some winter fishing.  A river that does not freeze up is also helpful.  Have fun and stay safe!

What the hell does he have in there?  Extra stuff!  

My buddy John with a Lake Trout.  Not all winter fishing is in the dead of the winter on on a river.  This was a cold October day fishing on a local Reservoir.