Neither snow nor cold....

I was determined to get out fishing today and take advantage of the reasonable weather.  As you can see from the pictures below, plenty of snow blanketed the woods through which the stream flows.  Although I should have, I didn't bother to check the water temperature because I was fairly confident that it was once again low (mid-30s).  I started fishing with the pattern described at both Small Stream Reflections and Fishing Small Streams, Fran Better's Picket Finn.  After a while of drifting this pattern to no avail, I tied on a Hemingway caddis, a dry fly that resembles the winter stonefly.  I was hopeful that the fly would attract some attention having seen a few winter stones in flight above the stream.  It took a while (and a few changes back to the Picket Finn), but ultimately the Hemingway once again proved its worth.  The first taker was the larger brookie pictured below.  After that four smaller brookies dined on the fly and lived to tell about it.  It proved to be a nice day trudging through the snow in the woods.