It’s easy to tell that the seasons have officially changed, and not just because of the onslaught of Christmas songs at your local stores or the relentless holiday advertising campaigns. What matters to those of us who enjoy fishing is the weekly cold fronts. North winds, cold mornings and big tide swings tell us that it is time to start changing our fly tackle to suit the season.

I‘ll ditch my floating fly line in favor of a full intermediate for the next few months. One reason for the change is the water temperature The colder water will keep the fish down deeper, where they’re more protected from rapid air temperature swings due to the cold fronts so steady you can nearly set your watch by them. As most of you know many of our fish tend to move into the backcountry in the winter. Here our target fish can find areas of deep water surrounded by shallow flats — they can retreat to the deep water at night where there will be less of a temperature change while staying close to shallow water where they can hunt on the flood tides and warm up in the afternoon. For these reasons, target river bends and narrow cuts. The accelerated water flow here will erode the river or sea floor, creating a nice deep hole.