Winter Fishing ???

[Dave Neal]

Ralph, your experience and concise explanation was great.

Water temp is obviously a huge factor. If one is to go winter fishing, consider the type of water you are venturing to: tailwater, spring creek, freestone, stillwater... each of these fisheries near the same altitude in the same region can have vastly different water temperatures! Some may be more productive than others...

I notice a big difference in brown trout on the Lower Owens once the water gets above 44, then 46, then 50... Look out!!!!!

I've been squatting in a duck blind on Hot Creek in middle of January, freezing my a$$ off, watching fish sipping on the surface before sunrise! Being mostly spring-fed, the water was "warm" near 50 deg.

Good advice is to take a thermometer and use it against your observations, make notes, apply over time.

[DFrink]

Thanks Ralph. That answer makes sense, and is what I was looking for when I started this thread. The temperature part makes sense with the additional information on the small trout metabolism. Maybe I wasn't clear that the
"streams" I was asking about generally hold smaller fish. Actually what I was really looking for was a reason to go fish some small streams, but this time of year it just never seams to pan out.

Dan