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For winter fishing, a lighter nymph rod #1-4, typically 9-10 feet in length, is a common practice. To match the lighter weight of smaller flies, scale down your leaders to 9-10ft 5-6x, with or without a tippet ring.
Here’s a helpful chart for matching your tippet size to your fly size
Winter flies will mainly be micro-nymphs on hooks size 16-18 with tungsten beads size 2.5-3.0mm, mostly in pink and silver colors for winter nymphing.
Some common patterns include normal small trout and grayling flies such as Olsen’s Blowtorch, Tagged Duracel Jig, Egan’s Red Dart, etc. The other winter pattern is Squirmy Wormy, which is certainly a controversial fly, but don't doubt its effectiveness.
You can fish Squirmy Wormy in clean water, but in muddy water they will be your best bet. On big rivers, where fish are caught in almost standing water, I use heavier flies with tungsten beads of 3.3-3.5 mm, which allows for better contact with the bottom and the point fly just taps the bottom.
Use two flies on the tippet, about two feet apart. The distance of the upper fly from the beginning of the indicator is determined by the depth of the water. It is important to choose the correct depth; when fishing in deeper water and the indicator is underwater, it is difficult to recognize the fish bites.
<aside> <img src="/icons/snowflake_blue.svg" alt="/icons/snowflake_blue.svg" width="40px" /> Perdigons are great for faster water due to their high sink rate. This allows them to get into the strike zone quickly, giving you a longer drift and a higher chance of getting a bite.
Perdigons are essential winter weapons, no matter how you choose to fish them.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/downward_red.svg" alt="/icons/downward_red.svg" width="40px" /> Check out my Top-5 patterns or Use the Tabs / Tab dropdown ▾ below to toggle between types of flies
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<aside> <img src="/icons/snowflake_blue.svg" alt="/icons/snowflake_blue.svg" width="40px" /> General Attractors | Black, White, Purple, Blue, Pink, and Chartreuse Green are some of the top-producing colors and hot-spots during winter, in sizes #14 to #22. These colors are highly attractive in both clear and low-light water. They will attract fish even better and make a great pattern in a two-nymph set up trailed behind an egg or worm pattern.
*Tip — Even when the hoppers aren't out yet, I like to use small-sized foam body patterns as an indicator / fly while fishing shallow creeks and banks. Sometimes the fish will take the dry fly, so it's worth having a hook on it.
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🎣 Hear it from the experts! Winter Dry Fly Fishing Tips