Feeding fish in freezing weather

Regardless of the weather, the water temps are ideal in the right areas

With football on TV and temps below 20 degrees, a few of us decided to brave the elements and fish The Eagle River knowing full well that we would be the only hearty (or dumb) fishermen out there. We headed south to Gypsum where the forecast was calling for warmer temps and less snow. After driving through one snow storm and finding our fishing spot on the Eagle, we were happy to have sun but the air temps didn’t budge.

Expecting to fish for 45 minutes, we hopped into the river and were onto fish in the first 15 minutes. Our short jaunt to the river turned into a full day, thanks to our many layers of Patagonia clothing and Stanley’s Ice Off Paste. The air temperatures it seemed meant nothing to the fish since they were getting steady temperatures from a warm water discharge upstream a ways.

We caught most of our fish on midge imitations both larva and pupae but the occasional trout looking for a bigger morsel seemed to really enjoy our cased caddis imitations and our larger sized tungsten hare’s ears. Any 10′-12′ rig with a #4 split shot and a caddis midge combo was taking fish with the best color midge being black (who would have thought).

The fish were there and ready to eat and what turned out to be a great full day of fly fishing easily could have been a frostbitten short one. Don’t forget to layer up with Capilene and Down/Synthetic and bring your ice off paste if you intend to be out for a few hours or more. Luckily your friends at Minturn Anglers prepared for you and loaded up on these winter fishing must-have’s so stop on by for Patagonia layering pieces, hot flies for the winter and your Stanley’s Ice Off Paste!

102 Main Street, Minturn, CO 81645 970-827-9500