Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
With the new year in full swing, we wanted to post another Relentless Fly Fishing update to catch up on what we’ve been up to since our last update in November. The end of 2024 was good to us, check it out!
Great Lakes Season
Late fall was all about Steelhead. Alex and Jake logged in some time guiding on the Erie tribs for Steelhead. Neil spent the majority of the late fall season guiding on the Salmon River in New York and found some great quality fish. The Salmon River provides a unique challenge and change of pace from the typical fall schedule. In both Great Lakes systems, the season started with very challenging low water conditions but things improved before harsh cold temperatures set in during mid December which marks the end of the main season. This year gave us a little bit of everything from drought conditions to blown out rivers. The volatile conditions of the great lakes can always prove challenging but our guides still found plenty of fish.
Some Salmon River chrome on a guide trip with Neil Sunday.
Another Salmon river Steelhead from Neil’s NY season.
Alex sneaking out to do some fishing on his own…
A fat Erie Steelhead from a guide trip with Alex.
PA Trout
With the brown trout spawn wrapped up in the majority of PA rivers, we also were able to run some early winter trout trips. These trips are great because of the lack of angling pressure along with relatively good fishing. There were a number of trips where our fish counts matched or exceeded what we saw in the exact same piece of water in the spring. We did well both streamer fishing as well nymphing with small bugs and egg patterns.
First ever streamer fish for Jack while fishing with Frank!
A healthy wild brown trout from a December outing with Frank.
In warmer news, Jake made a trip to Arizona to run a presentation with Desert Fly Casters, an education and conservation group out of Chandler, AZ. Jake took advantage of his few days away from the cold to get into some warm weather fishing. It was a mixed bag of species, including both carp and trout.
Carping the Southwest.
Arizona gold.
Winter Outlook: January/February
As we get into the heart of winter, expect the fish in our rivers to start to really get into their cold weather routine. Eggs, streamers and small bugs are the name of the game. After high water events, mixing in stoneflies can also be effective. For the hardcore dry fly enthusiast, there are ample opportunities to fish midges. Look for the slowest water and warmer times of the day. With a little luck, you can find surprisingly consistent risers. These fish will be challenging, and will probably require downstream presentations with big reach casts.
On the Yellow Breeches, Neil Sunday has been spending a lot of hours fishing the early winter season. With generally lower flows, he is seeing fish gravitate towards the smaller natural nymphs and small jig streamers as they adjust to their winter routine. For picky fish, switching to yarn or New Zealand style indicators has been an effective technique when getting close enough for tight line nymphing becomes a challenge. Its also a great technique for the fish that are pooled up in the slowest/deepest wintering pools. In some places, we can start seeing early stoneflies as soon as February, so keep an eye out there.
Neil with a small but gorgeous wild brown from the Yellow Breeches. The Breeches provides ample opportunity for these beauties throughout the winter season.
In late February, our stocked trout streams will be closed to fishing until the opener in early April. This will affect the Yellow Breeches and many other local rivers. You can still fish, but stay on the special regulation sections and make sure you know where you’re at.
Upcoming Events
VA Fly Fishing and Wine Festival January 10-11
Jake’s Bourbon and Bugs Fly Tying Class
For those who aren’t afraid of the cold, we still run guided trips through the winter. We may be a little more selective on dates and conditions, but if you’re flexible, we can provide some awesome experiences with surprisingly good fishing through the winter months. Winter is very underrated on the guiding side of things. It’s a great time to learn something new find solitude on the water.
Thanks for reading. Spring will be here before you know it so call us to get on the books!
Frank Landis
Insta: frankflyfishes
Email: franklandisflyfishing@gmail.com
Pics: Frank Landis, Neil Sunday, Jake Villwock, Alex Kolivras