One of the first flies you will see on a trout stream in winter is little black stoneflies. They will crawl out of the water onto a streamside rock in the frigid air. Their dark bodies will absorb heat from the sun and allow this little bug to shed their juvenile skin. Sometimes you can see the small adult stone flies walking around on the white snow. Trout don’t pay much attention to the adults as they are never in the water. The tiny nymph gets the hungry trout’s attention as they migrate along the stream bottom to the streamside rocks. Getting knocked free and tumbling in the current.

Here is a pattern I like to tie to use this time of year. Tim Flagler’s Little Black Stonefly in size 18. Simple to tie and effective.