Winter depth on the bow

[lds]

So I know fish are in deeper slower water in winter. For the bow just wondering what people’s rule of thumb for depth they look for in the winter. I haven’t fished winter much so not very experienced. Also I assuming fish are still in winter holes right. Ow is that true or have they started to spread out on the river

[Fishing4Trophies]

Originally Posted by lds

So I know fish are in deeper slower water in winter. For the bow just wondering what people’s rule of thumb for depth they look for in the winter. I haven’t fished winter much so not very experienced. Also I assuming fish are still in winter holes right. Ow is that true or have they started to spread out on the river

I am still finding them in their wintering holes, however, this should change in the upcoming weeks (hopefully!). When they spread out I often find them tight to the bank or in the normal riffle, eddy, seam pools.

For depth, generally anything below 3 feet, preferably below 5-6, but I do hook a few in the shallows on warm chinook days over the winter.

[lds]

Thanks. I’ve only ever fished in the winter a couple times with no success. Gonna give it a try before it warms up

[kilgoretrout]

Its not so much the depth but the type of water look for the laughing or choppy water it does not need to be much deeper than 3 or 4 feet ......

[scel]

Originally Posted by lds

So I know fish are in deeper slower water in winter. For the bow just wondering what people’s rule of thumb for depth they look for in the winter. I haven’t fished winter much so not very experienced. Also I assuming fish are still in winter holes right. Ow is that true or have they started to spread out on the river

They tend to start spreading out mid-march, around the solstice.

Another really loose metric I use is if the average 24 hours temperature is greater than 4C for about a week (so 10C during the day and -2C at night).

Until the temperature stays consistently above freezing, the fish will not really move that far so winter tactics are still necessary.

[Pikebreath]

Originally Posted by scel

They tend to start spreading out mid-march, around the solstice.

Another really loose metric I use is if the average 24 hours temperature is greater than 4C for about a week (so 10C during the day and -2C at night).

Until the temperature stays consistently above freezing, the fish will not really move that far so winter tactics are still necessary.

That is an excellent observation,,, the kind that puts an angler into "10% club!!!"

Fishing Axiom # 1: 90% of the fish at any given time are in time are found in 10% of the water body.

Fishing Axiom #2: 10% of anglers catch 90% of the fish becuz they can identify the 10% of water where the fish are at any given time!!!!

[goldscud]

Hours of daylight will make mature rainbows move

[lds]

Well I caught my first winter fish on the bow yesterday. Caught a chunky but sluggish whitefish. Between 16-18” so I’m quite happy. Was a beautiful day yesterday but extremely busy. I normally o my fish the bow in early morning and late in the evening so I don’t see too many people. What’s the rule of thumb for how much distance between fisherman. Normally when I fish if I see someone I walk a good half km to give both of us space but there wasn’t that much space between people. More like 100 yards. Maybe less. When the bow is busy how close can you go to someone before it’s too much and you need to hop back in the car and go somewhere else. I don’t think I will run into it being this busy very often as I normally head to the mountains or fish near the darker hrs of the day when most people are at home.

[commieboy]

Good for you! My rule of thumb for a crowded river is to remember it's not MY river. Yes, it sucks when someone fishes right beside me, but it's their right to do just that. I do personally try to give people enough room to ensure that a long-bomb cast from either of us would still have another 2 long-bomb casts between us, and also depends on the direction they're moving. If I want to get in front of them, I go father.