February is winding down and in one week March will arrive. The weather forecast predicts a warmup in temperatures and sunny weather. This warmer weather and sunny afternoons will melt the ice off the lakes quickly in March and we are anticipating a long spring fishing season. We are getting excited for a little warmer weather and early spring fishing. In this blog post we will share some of our favorite patterns for the best flies for early spring fishing on both lakes and rivers around Utah.
Woolly buggers are one of the most versatile flies when fishing both rivers and lakes. They imitate leeches, baitfish, crawfish, and large stonefly nymphs. In the early spring woolly buggers worked slow along the bottom of lakes and rivers work very well. In the spring we like to fish them in a rust brown or black color, so they look like crayfish or leeches. We often drop a small red midge, blood worm, or red copper john off the back of the woolly bugger about two feet to give the fish another option if they don’t like the look of the woolly bugger.
Balanced leeches are also a great pattern for fishing in the spring. We hang balanced leeches off a strike indicator and cast toward cruising fish in lakes and ponds and let the leech sit there until the fish swims by and picks it up. The depth of the balanced leech can be adjusted depending on the depth of the fish, but most of the time we are fishing them at a depth between five and eight feet deep. We also like to fish balanced leeches in black, dark purple, or brown.
There are many great emerging midge patterns on the market. The holo midge is one of our favorites for fishing midge hatches in the early spring on both rivers and lakes. We like to fish this midge in purple, red, black and silver. It is a great imitation during midge hatches and can be dropped under a dry fly or a strike indicator one to two feet. Cruising trout that are sipping emerging midges sip this midge up as they swim by.
The sno cone chironomid is also one of the best patterns to fish on lakes and ponds during a midge hatch in the spring. This pattern can be tied or purchased in a few variations, but the classic red, black, and silver with a white bead head is our favorite. This pattern can also be dropped off a strike indicator or large dry fly about 2 to 5 feet depending on the depth of the water.
We hope to see you out on the water this spring for some spring fishing at Falcon’s Ledge Lodge!
