Sub-Zero Trout

tailwater rainbow caught on midge

Winter arrived in SW Alberta last week. Saturday afternoon the temperature was sub-zero. I had to deal with ice in the rod guides, a frozen reel and of course cold fingertips in spite of gloves. Vibram soles without studs along with snow and ice made for some comical moments. I slid down several steep embankments on my derriere....early season tobogganing. The cold weather made an already weak hatch, weaker. There were still some BWO's around along with midges. I had to cover territory and hunt to find rising fish. Eventually I found several and a couple were quite large. The best one landed was just shy of 20 inches. It took a size 20 midge: black body, a couple of turns of grizzly hackle, clear trailing shuck, and white wing for visibility. Best thing about the hook up was that the fish was found sipping in a relaxed manner just off of the bank in a foot of water or less. I was downstream and watched its behaviour for a short while before casting. It was feeding fairly consistently and most of its head, which was large, poked through the surface. After several casts things came together and I saw it leave the bottom, gently rise and take in the tiny imitation, all kind of in slow motion. Fortunately I didn't react too quickly, as sometimes I do with a very slow riser. I waited for the fish to take the imitation, slowly raised the rod tip and the small hook held. It had been caught before, probably on a large hook and had some damage done to it's mouth. Otherwise it was healthy. Tailwater rivers are amazing: large trout in shallow water, on small flies in sub-zero temperatures!