Old Man Winter Classic
Happy New Year to all of you from us at H.E.F.F. I hope everyone is off to a good start, and got to enjoy our mini blizzard for a few days. We received quite a bit of snow and ice this past week. Fishing up until then has been pretty good in my opinion as well as the bug life. Even during the event, the fishing remained pretty damn good in a shocking way. Water temps have dropped down big time since we began to see snow melt on top of the mountains. This will cause fish to feed heavily during those peak hours of sunlight that warms the water during the day (Sometimes it’s 2 hours or just 20 minutes). Early mornings will be slow for a bit, but should get better as the snow disappears. We have been seeing constant midge hatches, caddis, winter stones and blue wing olives. I’ll admit, I was a little worried about our Olives after the flood in September, but they haven’t missed a beat which shouldn’t surprise us. While guiding last week I got to witness one of the biggest stone fly hatches I’ve seen in Pisgah National Forest. They were everywhere including inside our clothes and glasses. Fish were rising to them in the fast water as well as the banks. Pretty cool to see fish change over to a bug I don’t see them eat often. Usually its the midges, caddis and olives on most days, but definitely have seen them choose the stones a few more days than normal. Slow motion is the name of the game still. Which is proving itself day after day unless your fishing the hatchery stretch of the Davidson. One thing to consider right now while angling is depth and structure. These are the 2 main ingredients, and will remain as key target areas till the Spring weather arrives. Covering water is cool no doubt, but these fish can be found in the same type of water day after day till temps rise again. They don’t want to use up all of there energy because we know, as well as the fish, what weather can be like on our freestones in February. We’ll have some very cold days ahead followed by warm ups that will hint us with feels of Spring. Our Winter has been quite mild for the most part, but I won’t say much more just in case. We can control the drift but not the weather. Winter has been a great time for me to spend with my girls, and do a little fishing. We’ve got another child on the way that’s going to save me from being the only guy in the house as well. He will be here around the same time our season starts and we looking forward to it. Fishing with my buddies has been pretty good as of late as we’ve gotten to hold a few Musky and stellar Trout. One thing we are always doing when not guiding is dialing in watersheds trying to improve our approach and tactics. If your fishing the same setups year after year let me be the guy to tell you “try more”. Experimenting on the water is the best way to learn and dial in your craft. I tell people all the time “never be a lazy angler/guide”. This will develop bad habits and create a closed mind when it comes to fishing. Lazy anglers can still catchem that’s for sure, but for me its about adding more tools to the arsenal for multiple situations. I’ll never forget my first guide trip. I had 2 guys on private water for a half day at my old place of work. I was cocky and thought it wouldn’t be a big deal to go guide this trout infested water with 2 new guys. So many things went wrong as far as how I approached the fish. I was confident on Wild Public Water with 6X and had my guys throwing into a pool with those small flies I was used to fish on the main. We lost 9 fish the first hour and half all do to break offs on light tippet, and cheap rods I didn’t fish with myself that dropped fish near the net. For the next 4 hours I got my ass kicked without another bite, and I took the big L every guide hates taking. I felt defeated and contemplated quitting my gig after the first day at work. I remember calling my buddy and telling him about the day. I told him I had them in all the right holes, but the fish just weren't there anymore. He laughed for a minute because he knew where I was in my life. He told me '‘you should have just taken a few more steps up”. My mind was blown because I was used to one style of angling back then which was sight fishing. Back then I never fished a run blind, but I was being a lazy angler and thought it was the fishes fault the whole time during that trip. I then began guiding clients with rods I actually fish and believe in, changing the way I approach fish, trying new tactics and TIPPET, and took more steps up. Somedays it’s not about the tools, but the humble confident mindset we have to put ourselves in. Now, that was a long time ago and I can say lots of things have changed for me, but there will always be more to learn. I hope this makes sense to some of you, but I know some people are just pros out here living there best life with all the answers on Instagram. Just know that everything isn’t always as it seems. Teaching ourselves to keep an open mind is the best advice I can give anyone. The learning process in this sport is what keeps the better anglers better. We make plenty of mistakes to reap the rewards in the future, but when we think we have it figured out that’s when Ole Man Winter lets us know who is boss.
Lets get you on the books for this Spring and learn something. Thanks to everyone who reads my horrible grammar and keeps us going! Tight Lines
John
Mrs. Gonzalez reaping the reward of hard work and time on the water.