Winter Weather.....How Sweet it is.....

What a great thing it was to wake up to a fresh fallen snow this morning. As I poured a cup of coffee and returned to my place in front of the crackling fire I said to my wife....."what a day it would be to be on the water somewhere...." I know sometimes she must think I am crazy. That anyone would want to put on waders in freezing weather, walk through several inches of white stuff to stand in 35F water, and to do that for several hours on end - - -well maybe there's something to the crazy part.
And indeed there is. To me anyway, any time is a great time to fish. Winter, just like any season, has its fishing moments. No, fish do not go into hibernation as animals do, nor do they quit feeding. And catch them on the right day, and well--you can just have a ball.
Every year and almost without fail our winter guided trips produce some of the largest fish of the year. It just seems to work out that way. Whether its ripping a big streamer through a deep hole or bottom bouncing/dead drifting a large nymph or wooly bugger (you know dead drifting a wooly bugger is deadly if you have never given it a try....), or fishing a spawn or egg fly, whatever the case, fish just seem willing to take a bite of something big. Maybe its they feed less and want a lot of calories when they do, I am not sure that I know. I know tailwaters are often the opposite, and places like East Tennessee's South Holston River are like that. Thousands (like 5000-6000 trout per mile) of trout feeding on midge pupa and blackflies and where if you are fishing a #20 or 22 you are way out of line......
Wherever the place, and whatever the circumstance, I'd have to say winter is one of my favorite times of all. Give it a try.......maybe you'll discover the same.