Tim Flagler's Tuft 'n Tail. Trout Unlimited is proud to partner with Tightline Productions L.L.C. and reknowned fly tier Tim Flager to bring you exclusive content to enhance your fly fishing.

By Tim Flagler

If I could be so bold as to recommend one fly pattern for winter fly fishing, I’d do just that. What I mean is bring only one fly pattern with you when you go and focus almost exclusively on fishing that pattern well.

So what might that fly be? Midges are one of a few aquatic insect species that regularly hatch during the winter months and trout actively feed on them throughout all stages of their life cycle. So some type of midge pattern is usually a good choice.

Fishing midge dries, Griffith’s Gnats and the like, can be a lot of fun in the winter but also exceptionally hit or miss. Percentage wise, it’s better to stick with subsurface midge larva, pupa and emerger imitations and keep them on the small side, say size 18 and below. I like patterns that include both a tuft or wing bud and a tail, or trailing shuck, such as the pattern shown in the video below. I think both features act as triggers, helping trout to decide that what they’re seeing is food rather than just an inedible piece of detritus drifting by. Materials on this pattern can easily be swapped out for what you have on hand or you think looks good. Antron, Zelon or pheasant tail fibers also work well for the trailing shuck. You can even drop it entirely if you’d like. CDC, after shaft feathers, sparkle organza and white poly make suitable wing bud materials. Serendipities, Mercury Midges and Blood Midges are excellent pattern choices for the winter months as well.

By sticking with only one fly pattern, you’re basically forcing yourself to fish that pattern effectively. Rather than spending valuable fishing time trying to tie on fly after fly with cold, numb fingers, focus instead on where trout are likely holding and make the best drifts possible through those areas.

Wintertime trout like to conserve energy and won’t go too far out of their way for a meal. It’s imperative to put the fly right in front of them. In that vein, getting your fly on or close to the bottom can make all the difference in the world. Keep adding split shot until you’re absolutely sure you’re ticking bottom. You’ve all heard this story before but, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been catching nothing, nothing, nothing then added an extra split shot and started hammering them.

I fully realize few, if any of you, will actually venture out on a winter stream carrying only a single fly pattern. But the idea remains the same. Spend your time fishing as effectively as you can, not changing flies as many times as your frozen fingers will allow.

Materials List: Tuft-and-Tail Patterns

Hook: Dry/emerger hook (here a Dai-Riki #310), size 22

Thread: Light olive, 8/0 or 70-denier

Tail: Wood duck flank-feather fibers

Wing: Fluff from the base of a wood duck feather

Thorax: Dark olive rabbit-fur dubbing

Also check out Tim's recent podcast on Winter patterns with Tom Rosenbauer, Marketing Directof at Orvis. The portion of the podcast with Tim begins at 0:48:20.

Tim Flagler is the owner of Tightline Productions, L.L.C., a video production company located in Califon, NJ. Although Tightline produces video programs over a wide range of topics, their speciality is fly fishing. Almost every week they produce a new fly tying or “how to” video which appears not only on their Vimeo and YouTube channels but on Midcurrent.com and the Orvis fly tying blog as well. These videos often get picked up by other sites too, including Frankenfly, Chiwulff, The Limp Cobra, Globalflyfisher, Gink and Gasoline and Wideopenspaces, just to name a few. Many of the tying videos take the viewer well beyond just the tying of the fly and show what it looks like underwater, what natural it represents and how it can be fished. Tightline Productions, L.L.C. is a TU Business member.