One great thing about trout is that you generally don’t have to worry about water temperatures getting too cold. Trout are cold-water fish, and if the season and the water are open and you can stand the elements, some trout are probably willing to eat. In fact, in the South and in tailwaters through much of the country, winter is considered prime fishing time by many veteran anglers.
That said, some fishermen struggle when they first try winter trout fishing because they approach the fish the same way as they would if it were late spring or summer. While the fish will readily bite, you do have to adjust your tactics when water temperatures fall.
Stay Low
For starters, it’s important to realize that trout do the bulk of their feeding quite close to the bottom when it is cold. Most aquatic insects remain in nymph stages throughout winter, clinging to boulders and brush or tumbling along the bottom, so the trout likewise stay near the bottom.
By using a split shot rig or short Carolina rig, you can present floating trout paste or pellets just off the bottom and right in front of the fish’s faces. An excellent alternative, which is largely overlooked by trout fishermen, is to use a dropshot rig to jiggle a YUM Wooly Curltail just off the bottom.
Pick Pockets
Winter fronts often bring high flows, and when that happens, working eddy pockets becomes a real key to success. Trout will get behind obstructions and in cuts off the main flow and hold close to seams between slack water and current, watching for food to wash past. Focus on these pockets and edges and keep in mind that many will be beneath the surface, behind midstream boulders.
Use Uncommonly Good Scents
One of the best ways to trigger strikes when fish hang low during the winter is to draw them in with a strong natural scent, and NOTHING matches the double dose of attraction found in YUM TroutKrilla. Made with real krill, tiny shrimp-like crustaceans that are irresistible to trout, TroutKrilla Paste and Pellets also contain YUM’s Live Prey Technology, which accurately replicates enzymes put off by distressed baitfish.
In additional to traditional trout paste applications, such as fishing pellets or balls of paste on split-shot rigs, an excellent way to lure big trout during the winter is to stuff TroutKrilla Paste inside a YUM Craw Papi and bounce the crawdad imitation along the bottom on a jighead.
Watch Water Color
The color of the water affects how the fish feed and where they tend to hold. Stained water, which commonly comes with high winter flows, causes the fish to hold tighter to cover and to react to anything food-like washes close. Scent also becomes extra important in stained water, and bright colors typically will out-produce more subtle hues.
Work Pools Meticulously
Fish big, deep runs and plunge pools slowly and very thoroughly during the winter, hitting them from every imaginable angle. Anglers too often make a few casts and then move on instead of approaching a run from a different angle or slowing the presentation. Fish painfully slow and work a run especially hard if you detect even a nibble.