When not to fish in the Winter/Spring

I can tell you one of the very best days to fish in the Winter/Spring is when the Olives are going strong and it is snowing, you will never experience such quiet on a stream, even the birds are silent. Snow doesn't seem to bother the Olives and or Midges they just keep coming. now I am not talking about a full blown blizzard just a nice soft snow, we all know that rain gives the Olives a good kick in the pants but it is not that quiet and still. Hopefully we are done with the snow and the wind that seems to be ever present this year. I can tell you one of worst times to fish is after a good snow fall and it begins to melt, this will take the water temp's down and put the fish off. Between the snows we have seen water temp's slowly climb (not much but a little) and the fish become active then boom the temp goes down just a little and they turn off! Give it a few days to begin to warm up and get rid of most of the snow cover that is exposed to the sun, the remaining snow will melt when the air temps begin to rise enough. Next week with the for cast of 50's and 60's will get some more snow melt going but if you plan on getting on the stream early you should be OK, most of the heavy melt occurs later in the afternoon. Now none of this applies to Fishing Creek- hell the sun does not hit it till April, or it just seems that way but it does stay colder than the other streams at this time of year. Small black pheasant tails and Chimera caddis larva & pupa imitations are just the ticket now. Scuds and shrimp will always bring fish to you, just keep them on the smaller size #16 & 18 will do the trick. Penns is good for the bigger stuff, black stoneflies in size #6 & 8 along with yellow stones in #10 & 12 will work provided you get them down near the bottom, with cold water temps the fish just will not move that far for a treat.
  Enjoy