I think the true winter fish don't really show up in the sky in any numbers until about the first week in December. Last year, and to a lesser extent this year, there was a push of pretty bright fish during the first half of November, but I don't think these are winter fish; probably late, late summers. We were calling them 'swinters' Whatever you call them, they were quality fish and there are a few in the river now, but not as many as last season.

If you think the summer fish boogie up to Reiter, you'll think the winter fish have blinders on with their mouths sewn shut until they reach "the big rock". They're on a Rieter mission. I don't fish the lower river during the winter until the nates start showing up by about mid-February.