This week’s picture is brought to you by Gary.
My first Steelhead on the Salmon River, NY. 15 degrees and 10 inches of lake effect snow but worth every shiver to catch one of these!

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Sometimes when a fish breaks off we assume that we tied a bad knot. That’s possible, however, many times we probably just tied the wrong knot. Here’s a few functional knots and some of the applications they are best for:

Clinch Knot or Improved Clinch Knot: This is the old standard “fisherman’s knot” that is still widely used. It works well as a connection from tippet to fly and is fairly easy to tie. There are other knots that probably retain a little more of the tippet strength but this one is fast and still relatively strong. I’ve found the Improved Clinch Knot to be better for larger hooks and the standard Clinch Knot perhaps a little better for light tippet and small hooks.

Trilene Knot: This knot is essentially a Clinch Knot with the added step of passing the line twice through the eye of the hook. This knot is a strong connection between tippet and fly and is much better than the Clinch Knot for large hooks such as those used for Bass Flies, Steelhead/Salmon Flies, and Saltwater Flies.

Blood Knot: I generally prefer this knot over the Double Surgeons Knot for joining two sections of tippet or leader to tippet. It has the added advantage of tag ends that protrude from the knot at 90 degree angles from the main tippet/leader. When left long these tags a better for droppers than the tags of the Double Surgeon’s Knot since they don’t tangle as easily. The Blood Knot is generally stronger than the Double Surgeon’s Knot when used with two leader sections of similar diameter.

Double Surgeon’s Knot: Although I generally prefer the Blood Knot, I still use this knot for joining leader material when the diameter of the two leader sections differs more than one or two sizes.

My advice on knots is to just learn one or two knots for every application. Basically, you need to know how to tie a few of them fairly quickly and know when to use them. There are probably hundreds of knots out there that work, but I find that if I know the basics pretty well then I’m able to fish more and avoid wasting a lot of time thinking about tying knots.

This week’s picture is brought to you by Ronald.
A Snowy day fishing the Blue River in Silverthorne Colorado. Now that’s some winter dedication!

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Winter is still gripping most of North America but Spring is in sight. This is the perfect time to go over gear to make sure you’re ready for fast and furious fishing this season. One of the most important things to check is your fly line. A new fly line will float better, mend better, cast farther, and come off the water easier, and with less splash, so you don’t scare fish.

I like to get out all of my fly lines this time of year and evaluate them. Some of them may just need a good cleaning, while others just need to be tossed and replaced.

To check your lines, run your fingers down them feeling for cracks, rough spots, and places with inconsistencies. Also, look closely at your lines for dirt and other things that will worsen the line’s performance. If I find just a little dirt, I’ll clean the line, either with a soft clothe and water or with a fly line cleaning kit. If there are visible cracks, roughness, smashed sections, or missing line coating, then I will replace the line.

You don’t realize how much a new fly line really helps your fishing until you try one. The smooth zip of the line as you cast and the overall better performance of the line on the water and in the air is a great way to bring in a new fly fishing season this Spring.

This week’s picture is brought to you by Ted.
December 5th on the Salmon River, NY. Broke trail through 2 feet of fresh lake effect snow. Snow stopped at 9:30AM and the sun came out. This nice hen still had plenty of silver left on her. Took the cigar away from her, told her smoking was no good for her with all those eggs, and let her go.

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Winter brings a lot of things to the trout stream. Snow, ice, and cold are a few of them, luckily, so are fewer anglers and many midges.

Midge hatches hone an anglers skills more than almost any other kind of fishing. The flies are tiny, the tippets are light, and the presentations are delicate. This kind of fishing might sound difficult. It is. However, it can also be very rewarding. Here are a few things to remember when midging.

Think Small - There are thousands of species that fall into the “midge” category that range in size from barely visible to inch-long behemoths of the insect world. However, most midges in rivers and streams are between about size 24 and size 18.

Think Light - These small flies require light tippets. I like to use 6X or 7X standard tippet when I’m fishing midge dry flies and usually 5X or 6X flourocarbon tippet when I’m fishing midge nymphs. Remember that a light fly rod like a 3 or 4 weight will offer more tippet protection for these light tippets.

Think Soft - When trout begin to key on midges they notice even the smallest details. Summer time fish will sometimes rush to check out the plop of a hopper pattern but slapping your midges down in front of winter fish will send them into hibernation. Your midges must land soft and drift perfectly or fish will likely ignore them.

Luckily for us, most midge hatches are quite large in terms of numbers of bugs. Fish have to eat a lot of them to make a decent meal which means more opportunities for strikes. Get out there and toss (softly of course) some midges. The Winter weather is actually not all that bad when you have fish on the line.

This week’s picture is brought to you by Brandon.
Quite the brown pulled from an undisclosed water. We’ll all keep looking to find a lunker like this!

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Many anglers tend to overlook large flies, especially large nymphs in tailwaters. While it is true that the cool constant water of tailwaters tends to produce large numbers of midges, small mayflies, and other invertebrates, there are some big food items in any stream, even tailwaters. Here are a few larger nymph patterns that work, even in tailwaters where the average food item being consumed by trout is size 18 or smaller.

San Juan Worm - This fly was actually made famous on a river famous for its tiny midges. However, most rivers, especially tailwaters and spring creeks, hold large numbers of aquatic worms. The San Juan Worm comes in many colors, even multi-colored, to match the worms in nearly any water. To find aquatic worms in your stream try finding a place with a sand or mud bottom and dig up handfulls of the stuff. It should eventually have a worm or two in it. Even if you can’t find aquatic worms, the San Juan Worm works. Probably because it also mimics terrestrial worms quite well.

Bitch Creek - This classic nymph pattern probably originated to immitate large stoneflies and such. However, the Bitch Creek draws strikes, even in streams with no large stoneflies. The bright colors contrasting with black and the wiggling rubber legs make it hard to miss and hard for trout to resist.

Cranefly Larvae - I remember the day that I first found some of these guys on a stream known for tiny insects. It was an eye opener to find bugs an inch and half long that the trout would likely go crazy for. Since then I’ve kept several Cranefly Larva patterns around and when things get slow I’ll pull them out and nymph them way down deep. This fly has produced some of the largest stream trout that I have caught.

The general rule is, when fish don’t strike, go smaller. I say don’t be afraid to break rules, especially that one, and try some big nymphs sometimes.