Ice Cold Fly Fishing

With the New Year comes the rebirth of the spirit and a clearer vision of the next 364 days, but soon jaded reality and frigid temperatures touch the heart and it becomes harder to maintain a positive outlook. This year my resolutions are to find ways to shake off adversity with new vision, and, of course, to do more fishing. Resolutions are like fine china meant to be broken, but not this year (hopefully).

With the mercury dropping like an anchor in the Baring Sea, it looked like the prime opportunity to make good on my resolutions. It’s hard to make a good D loop with the Okanogan covered in with ice so the steelhead will have to remain safe for the time being. So what is an avid fly bum to do with ice everywhere? You guessed it: hit the lake.

Ice fishing with flies, you ask? That’s right, a new twist on an old subject. Many devoted ice anglers would think of this idea as complete lunacy, after all it's hard to "match the hatch" when there isn't one. This is precisely the point; a hatch doesn't need to be fluttering over of heads to be equally as important as a food source, so I set out to redraw the guidelines of winter fly fishing. With a look at the scud end of the North 40 fly bin and some selective patterns, I set out to show my boys that the impossible can be possible.

With our Nils Convertible Ice Auger and a fresh charge on the 18v Dewalt XRP drill my wife got me a few Christmas’s ago, I took my wife, Haley, and boys Ethan (5) and Monte (3) for our first family ice fishing trip. I have to admit I was beyond skeptical of auger that relies mainly on a battery operated drill for a power source. After all it wasn’t getting much notice on the shelves, but after doing some research I thought I would take the risk. To say I was impressed would be more than an understatement.

As soon as we hit the lake I jumped out and began punching holes figuring it would take as long as it drill my first hole as it would for my wife to get the boys dressed on their "warm-ware." The Nils Convertible Auger had four holes laid in as it took to drill one with my old hand auger. There was no binding, or hang-ups, and the best part no elbow grease. It also beats the smell of two-cycle smoke and a $400 price tag for an engine driven auger. Needless to say I will be the envy of everyone at this year’s Molson Ice Fishing Festival.

Armed with a scud pattern on one rod and a Czech micro jig on the boys hit the ice. Both seemed to be the hot ticket. Monte was set up with a pink scud with a small piece of shot to get it down, while Ethan fished a Red Butt Tungsten Jig in a sz14. Both presentations were fished with a light jigging action slowly moving the tip only 4" and gradually working the flies down through the water column. Inevitably, somewhere between the 4 and 5’ mark the rod would bend and shouts would begin. In less than hour we’d iced 10 crappie, and released 2 nice rainbows. With the bucket full we hit the road for a nice lunch and enough time to get caught up on house work (Mama has resolutions too).

Anyway, Happy New Year’s, and I’ll see you on the water or in the Shop.

Cheers,

Luke