Winter’s cold arrived this week. Coupled with the Governor’s “stay at home” request, our activities cooled as well.
We don’t stop fishing in the winter, just shift tactics. Some streams open all year, and of course fish don’t hibernate.
One thing that does pick up is activity at the tying bench.
Flyfishing, like most hobbies, offers lots of distractions to occupy time and resources, Some more essential than others. Fly tying is one of these side ventures.
Winter, or off season, at the bench serves two functions. First it replenishes boxes depleted by summer’s excursions . There are also some very different types of flies used in the cold months.
The art of dry dropper, wet fly, or Euro nymphing techniques is, for us, just in the formative stage, as are any patterns used in those tactics. It’s helpful to be able to sit down at the bench, work out different artificial based on what we see on the river.
There is also a cathartic and meditative side of attaching bits of feather, fur and tinsel to bends of wire.
Like standing in the middle of a stream … fly tying has its own sort of Zen.
With shortened days … that’s a good thing.