Winter blues

[walt]

If I was smart I’d tie some flies….

tie some whitefish flies. Those things are about unobtainium these days 

Never targeted them, but have caught most of mine on wooly buggers.

What exactly do these elusive whitefish flies look like exactly? I'll tie some up but I can't find an accurate pattern to copy.

I've always done well on small (16 or 18) prince nymphs or bead head pheasant tails.  As for winter stuff to do I'm still chasing birds, fishing the local rivers and lakes, tying flies, house projects, sheds should start dropping soon, work more so I can take more time off when the weather is better...

[pianoman9701]

Just working everyday and trying to heal up.

[Bullkllr]

If I was smart I’d tie some flies….

tie some whitefish flies. Those things are about unobtainium these days 

Never targeted them, but have caught most of mine on wooly buggers.

What exactly do these elusive whitefish flies look like exactly? I'll tie some up but I can't find an accurate pattern to copy.

I've always done well on small (16 or 18) prince nymphs or bead head pheasant tails. 

I'm sure there are a bunch of nymphs that will catch them (likely even better ), but I'm talking about the traditional "whitefish flies" that have been used for years mostly in Central WA, usually used with a spinning rig, usually in a 2-fly set up, usually with maggots. Heard about it all my life, but never did it since it conflicted strongly with steelhead fishing.

[walt]

If I was smart I’d tie some flies….

tie some whitefish flies. Those things are about unobtainium these days 

Never targeted them, but have caught most of mine on wooly buggers.

What exactly do these elusive whitefish flies look like exactly? I'll tie some up but I can't find an accurate pattern to copy.

I've always done well on small (16 or 18) prince nymphs or bead head pheasant tails. 

I'm sure there are a bunch of nymphs that will catch them (likely even better ), but I'm talking about the traditional "whitefish flies" that have been used for years mostly in Central WA, usually used with a spinning rig, usually in a 2-fly set up, usually with maggots. Heard about it all my life, but never did it since it conflicted strongly with steelhead fishing.

Gotcha.  I grew up fishing the Yakima, fishing gear for whitefish in the winter with maggots or meal worms (fly or bare hook didn't matter) under a casting bubble.  I've been mostly flyfishing for the last 25ish years and a prince nymph seems to be their favorite of my offerings. A weighted pink or white dink would probably work great as well but I'm not familiar with any whitefish specific flies.  It's a ton of fun tying and trying new stuff.

[vandeman17]

.

[dilleytech]

I do a lot of meat grinding and sausage making and such on the weekends I’m not hunting or fishing.

[Twispriver]

I'm off to a great start on my firewood pile - I always try to be finished before the superbowl so if spring shows up early I'll be free to work the produce beds. I also have about fifty young fruit trees that are going to get trimmed and shaped and some grafting to do.