Fly fishing in December can be a surprisingly productive time of year. During the winter months, the rivers are quiet, and the fish tend to congregate in predictable holding areas. Of course, cold weather must be contended with, so make sure to dress warmly and downsize your flies.
Winter trout are often lethargic and won't move far to take a fly. With minimal hatches, the majority of the insects on the water are midges. These tiny creatures play a significant role in the diet of trout during the colder months, both in the East and the West. For this reason, stocking up on small flies for winter is key to a successful fly fishing adventure. Below is a list of 12 of my favorite flies for December fishing.
Preparing for Winter Fly Fishing
Before we dive into the flies, my number one tip for winter trout fly fishing is to make sure you're comfortable during your outing. Having the right gear is critical if you want to stay on the water while others head home due to the cold.
Water temperatures are frigid, and once your hands get wet, the ambient air temperature can make them feel like icicles. Gloves are essential, and finding a way to warm your fingers is a necessity especially when you're trying to tie small flies onto delicate tippet.
Dress in layers. Winter days can shift from unusually warm to extremely cold in a flash, so being able to shed or add layers as needed is incredibly helpful.
Bring a good hat. Most body heat is lost through the top of your head. A solid winter hat, with a hood pulled over it, will make all the difference and help you prolong your time on the water.
Last but not least, make sure to treat the guides on your fly rod with de-icer. Ice can form on the guides or float in the river, making it difficult to present the fly properly. A de-icer treatment will solve this problem.
12 Winter Fly Fishing Flies For the Month or December
These are just a few of my favorite cold-water flies. The flies listed below are in no particular order, other than being grouped into six of my preferred nymphs and six of my favorite dry flies for fly fishing for trout in December.
Nymphs
Zebra Midge
The zebra midge is a simple and sparse fly that imitates midges, a primary food source for trout in winter. I chose the zebra midge because midges are present in the water year-round. This is especially true when water temperatures are extremely low, and midges will often be the only hatch to occur during this time of the season.
Although plain in design, the zebra midge is an extremely effective fly. For winter fly fishing, I prefer to fish it deep, underneath an indicator, in a two-fly nymph rig. My point fly is usually a small egg pattern or a small stonefly. Add 20" to 24" of tippet to the bend of the first hook, then attach your smaller zebra midge to the tippet using a non-slip loop knot. Depending on the depth of the river and the speed of the water, you might need to add a small amount of split shot to your leader. I love zebra midges in black, brown, and red.
Egg patterns
Egg patterns are effective in winter fishing, especially when used as the first fly in a double nymph rig. Although fish aren't usually spawning in the winter, eggs are eaten opportunistically by trout, regardless of the season. The winter season is no exception, and eggs provide trout with a substantial meal when most other forage items are very small. When fishing egg patterns in the winter, downsize your fly— the smaller the egg, the better.
The micro egg is an ideal pattern for winter trout fishing. Use the micro egg as the point fly in a two-fly rig. Fish this rig in deeper, slower pockets beneath an indicator. Tie 20" to 24" of tippet to the eye of the egg pattern, and then add a small midge or micro mayfly pattern to the end of the tippet.
Pheasant Tail
The pheasant tail is a great fly for winter fishing. Another classic fly pattern to add to your list, the pheasant tail works all year long, even in the winter. Similar to the zebra midge, it can be fished 365 days a year and will catch fish in rivers across the world. For this reason alone, it’s wise to have a large selection of both weighted and unweighted pheasant tails in your fly box.
For winter fly fishing, choose sizes in the #18-#22 range. Not only will they work for imitating small midges, but you never know when a blue-wing olive hatch will occur. Although B.W.O.s are usually a fall and spring hatch, they can appear on warmer days, and when they do, the trout will often go bananas.
Pheasant tails fished in combination with a small midge pattern, deep under an indicator, can be a deadly combination all winter long. If you need to get the flies deep, incorporate split shot or a tungsten bead pheasant tail into your fly setup. Focus your attention on deeper seams, slower water, and a dead-drift presentation.
Tungsten Head Rainbow Warrior
The Rainbow Warrior is another versatile fly pattern that can be fished all year long. Lance Eagan, one of America's most famous competitive anglers, created the Rainbow Warrior. Not only does it represent emerging midges, but it also covers mayfly and even caddis hatches. This is an extremely effective tailwater pattern. For these reasons, it should be in your fly box.
I prefer the tungsten bead version, as it can be an extremely effective nymph pattern for shallow water nymphing. On my home water, the Taylor River, trout often sit on shallow gravel flats on warmer afternoons. I can only imagine that this behavior is due to warmer water temperatures in the shallow areas.
Using a hinged leader configuration with a small yarn indicator, presenting a tungsten beadhead Rainbow Warrior a foot to two feet under the indicator is an effective method for sight fishing to specific trout. This is one of my favorite ways to target trout in shallow water with smaller flies.
Juju Bee Zebra Midge
The Juju Bee Zebra Midge is a Charlie Craven creation. I love this fly because it has an ultra-slim profile. Most fly patterns are tied too bulky, but aquatic insects—especially midges—have an ultra-slim profile. The Juju Bee Midge matches this perfectly.
While this fly can be fished in a two-nymph rig under an indicator, it also performs well when trout are looking for and eating dry flies. Many times, winter trout will eat midge emergers just below the surface in the surface film. This behavior is detected by the porpoising rise form of feeding trout.
Using a two-fly dry fly setup, the Juju Bee Midge can be used as a midge emerger hanging in the surface film. Using a longer 9- to 12-foot tapered leader, attach a small dry fly to the end of the leader. Then, attach 20" to 22" of fluorocarbon tippet to the bend of the hook of the dry fly. Treat the Juju Bee Midge with Frog's Fanny. The midge nymph will hang in the surface film or just below the meniscus of the river's surface. This is an effective way to simulate midges in the surface film.
Improved RS2
The RS2 series of flies is a versatile pattern that works well in a variety of situations. It is one of those fly patterns with a large following. On technical tailwaters, when the water is low and clear and the fish are selective, an RS2 will usually do the trick to fool picky trout.
The improved RS2, with its bead head, longer antron wing, and subtle flash added to the tail, makes this an excellent fly pattern for imitating both small mayflies, like B.W.O.s, and midge pupae. The tungsten bead head helps get this fly down, making it an excellent cold-water searching pattern or an ideal fly for matching the hatch.
It is best fished in a two-fly setup. I like the improved RS2 rigged in a dry-dropper setup. My preferred first fly is a small Parachute Adams. The Adams has just enough buoyancy to float the improved RS2. This setup is excellent for targeting specific trout in one to two feet of water. Often, the inside bends of gravel flats will hold lazy winter trout. Feeding the fly to specific fish is my preferred strategy. You can also fish this fly deep as the second fly in a two-fly deep nymph rig under an indicator. Delaying your cast and swinging the fly vertically through the water column can result in strikes from trout keyed into midge emergers moving vertically through the water.
Dry Flies
Parachute Adams
The Parachute Adams is a classic fly pattern that should be in your fly box no matter what time of year it is. For winter fly fishing, the smaller sizes of the pattern, in sizes #20-#22, can imitate both B.W.O.s and larger or smaller size midges. Sizes #16 and #18 are excellent as point flies for a dry-dropper rig, as the larger sizes of this pattern can float small midges.
I love to fish a Parachute Adams as a solo fly on a long leader to rising fish. A size #22 Parachute Adams, colored with black permanent marker, is sometimes the best fly for fishing midge hatches when the water is blanketed with tiny insects. A white wing post, or even the hi-vis version of this fly, makes seeing the fly easier in the midst of a thick hatch.
I Can See It Midge
The I Can See It Midge is definitely on my list of dry flies for fishing midge hatches. This fly offers several advantages that other midge patterns don’t. First and foremost, it has a hi-vis orange post, making it easy to see in low-light conditions or flat water with a lack of glare. In most cases, this is where fish will be rising in the months, keyed into a thick blanket of midge adults. Many times, conditions like these leave me guessing as to when to set the hook. The hi-vis post helps solve this problem.
What I like most about this pattern is the profile the fly presents. The I Can See It Midge is tied on a bent emerger hook, so while it is a dry fly, it hangs in the surface film. The shaggy dubbing and curved body can imitate both an adult and an emerger. This doubles your chances of connecting to fish when there are trout porpoising on emergers in the surface film or trout eating fully formed adults on the river's surface. This pattern can be used as both a point fly or a trailer fly in a two-fly dry-fly setup.
Blue Wing Olive Comparadun
There isn’t a worse feeling than being on the water, experiencing a hatch, and not having the patterns to match it. Cold water temperatures mean that there are fewer hatches occurring, so when they do happen, fish will capitalize on them. Blue-wing olives can appear at any time when the conditions are right. Warmer days with cloud cover will bring them out. I’ve experienced this personally on both the Blue River and South Platte River in Colorado during the month of December.
When trout are looking up and actively eating adult mayflies on the surface, you’ll clearly see open mouths and the full profile of a trout's nose breaking the surface of the water. If I had to choose one dry fly for such a moment, a Blue-wing Olive Comparadun dry fly would be my top choice.
Tied with a hair wing and no hackle, the Comparadun patterns ride low in the water, perfectly imitating a freshly emerged sub-imago mayfly low in the surface film. The slim profile and natural impression on the water’s meniscus make it a trout-catching machine.
Twin Territory
The Twin Territory is a foam-backed midge pattern that is ideal for fooling rising trout all winter long. I like the Twin Territory because the profile of the fly can represent either an adult midge or an emerger. It is versatile, and if you need to change tactics without changing flies, the Twin Territory allows you to do that.
Dress the fly's grizzly-hackled thorax with floatant, and the entire pattern will ride on the surface of the water. Fishing the pattern on a long, thin leader in this manner is perfect when trout are eating adult midges. If the fly is refused, wet the back half of the fly using a small amount of saliva between your pointer finger and thumb. This transitions the fly into an emerger pattern that hangs in the surface film. The small amount of midge flash tied into the tail simulates air bubbles and the shedding of the pupal shuck.
Griffith's Gnat
Similar to ants, midges will often form floating rafts of adult midge clusters on the river's surface. This turns a singular small meal into one big meal, which is often difficult to find in the winter months. The Griffith's Gnat imitates this behavior perfectly.
A simple fly, the Griffith's Gnat is peacock herl tied onto a hook with grizzly hackle. It might not look like much, but it is an extremely effective midge pattern when adult midges are blanketing the water. The Griffith's Gnat is an excellent point fly or sighter fly in a two-fly, dry-fly fishing rig. I like to fish the Griffith's Gnat in tandem with a low-riding emerger pattern as my second fly. Emerger patterns are so small that the Griffith's Gnat can be used as a reference for where your second fly is located.
B.W.O. Bunny Dun
Rabbit fur is one of my favorite tying materials, especially when it comes to tying wings for small dry flies. The B.W.O. Bunny Dun incorporates a small tuft of snowshoe fur into an upright wing. When treated with floatant, it has extremely buoyant properties that allow the fly to float even after it has been saturated by water and hooked fish.
In spring, summer, fall, and winter, the Bunny Dun rests low in the water, has a nice compact profile, and can be fished as a midge pattern if colored black. I like this pattern fished with a dead drift in slow, flat water with a longer, thin leader. I have fished this pattern year-round, and if fish are being particularly finicky, a slight twitch can provoke a strike.