Winter Day on the Davidson from Bill Strickland on Vimeo.

Early spring brings a lot of life to the streams of WNC, not only fishermen but insects and increased metabolism in the trout. Here are some helpful tips to make the most of your next early spring trip.

1. While the fish are far more active than they have been in the last couple of weeks the water is still really cool (ok almost cold). Fish are still lethargic in the morning and evening hours. So fish slow and do not be in a big hurry.
2. Rising fish (or what we perceive to be rising fish) are often eating emerger’s just under the surface of the water rather than duns. Before casting to the rise with a dry fly look to see if the fishes head is breaking the surface or if it is his back. I was fishing with Dave Hughes last week when we encountered rising fish we switched flies to a dry and no takers about 5 minutes later we switched to a soft hackle pheasant tail with no shot and fished just below the surface and caught a lot of nice fish.
3. Mid day is still more productive than early morning and late evening. For at least the next couple of weeks the fish will still prefer to feed in the middle part of the day when the water is at its warmest. Once the water reaches 52 and stays there overnight then the fishing will be good in the early morning.
4. For at least the next couple of weeks dark colored flies will out produce light colored flies. Typically I fish a lot of Parachutes Adam’s, Pheasant Tail’s, Kevin’s Stoneflies, and dark colored caddis or small black stimulators.
5. Fish larger tippets, and land more fish. In the spring the fish have had the winter off and the water flows are generally higher. SO fish have to make an immediate decision eat the bug or watch it go by. I have always fished higher tippet sizes in the spring because of this, usually 4-5x. With the advances that have been made in fluorocarbon tippets I can even do a larger size. Last year I never fished any tippet smaller than 5x fluorocarbon and have found my self fishing 3-4x fluorocarbon and catching more fish because I am not breaking fish off as much as I did with the lighter tippets