Can't help with the ice, because I am an old wimpy man who does not fish in frigid temps... but I have noticed on the two Rio InTouch Gold lines I have, the belly is much stiffer and with more memory than my regular Rio Gold lines. Wondering if a regular Rio Gold would stay more flexible.

I used to fish in winter. Ice on guides was a never ending problem for me.

Something happened to me and when my hands get cold now I lose all strength. I can't even cut a tippet. If my hands get too cold now I can't even turn the key to start my Jeep. I have to sit on my hands to warm them up and get some strength back.

So, i'm a fair weather fisherman now. I still hunt in the cold, but I can wear thick gloves that won't work for fishing.

Dry fly dressing on the guides. Reapply as needed. Helps shed water. If its so cold it ices over every cast its time to go home.

There are also cold temp specific lines, so you may look into getting a winter line specifically. At some point though its too cold to fish. If your icing your guides or the line is too stiff - chances are good your injuring the fish by exposing them to the cold air. If their gills freeze, they die. If their eyes freeze they can go blind. Its fine for food fish but if I am c&r fishing its not worth killing or potentially killing every fish. And shoving my hands underwater each time I catch a fish to try an underwater release and making them popsicles gets old too. I have nerve damage in my hands and wrists and very cold weather makes the pain worse. On those too cold days I stay home, tie flies, watch youtube videos or call my dad down in Texas who usually has something like "gee, it got to 70 degrees so we turned on the air conditioner" to say. Makes me feel better

I plan to leave the PNW in a few years and move someplace warmer and the southern US is high on the list because of year round ice free fishing opportunities.

Tenkara works perfectly in winter.

I do the vast majority of my trout fishing in the winter as I usually can get the river to myself. Warm months I fish warm water species for the most part.

As far as anti icing formulas I don’t use them. A good clean slick line coating that sheds water helps a lot. Textured lines or dirty lines will have a lot of water adhesion which will ice up line and guides faster. Single foot ring guides ice up faster than snakes and they are harder to de-ice. With snakes you can gently poke from the side and usually get the ice out. If not, dip the rod in the water for about 5 seconds and re-try.

Some lines are just not good for low temps. A line that is really good in the heat is often going to stiffen up and have a lot of coil memory in the cold. Play around with a few and know which ones like the cold. Rio gold works as do some of the other supple lines.

For cold hands try nitrile surgical gloves. Goofy looking…yes. Effective, oh yes. I’ve tied on size 18 on 6x tippet in 28 degree weather while wearing them. Tight fit 3mil works really well. They keep the hands dry and the cold air off. Wear insulated gloves while hiking or wading to the next spot. If that’s not enough use Hot Hands chemical warmers while hiking/wading. Protecting the wrists from the cold is also key to warmer hands.

I consider ideal conditions to be low of 25, high of 45. Cold enough at sunrise to keep people away and very comfortable by late morning when I’m miles from the nearest access so I still get the river to myself. For a while you will be fishing Tenkara whether you want to or not. Temps in the teens, I stay home and put another log on the fire.

There was a time when I would wet wade icy rivers. Not so much these days. I love fishing in a snowstorm though.

I don't think theres a real cure for icy guides. Never found one myself, except for fish on. Oh well.

I love winter fly fishing--except when I'm actually doing it, waiting for a fish to get on. But I also don't bother unless it's at least above freezing. Ice in the guides just isn't worth it (and the cold hands that are even less avoidable). I'll go skiing instead.

Even in the north, that means a fair number of weekends are fair game. But the cold, cold days are for fly tying, skiing, or sleeping in my book.

Dipping the rod works temporarily, as mentioned above. Unless it's literally zero degrees with negative wind chill like this year's Wisconsin opener. In that scenario they refreeze on your first back cast. Then you go back to the truck and call it a day.

My main winter fishing is the whitefish spawn around Christmas. Both trout and whitefish go after a #18 egg pattern and a Tenkara rod works great for the deep, slow drifts you need to present. No ice in the guides is just a bonus.

Cortland sylk lines are the best I've found for cold weather fishing. Much better than RIO Gold as it remains flexible and has the benefit of a smaller diameter. Just make sure its clean. I haven't found anything that works well for keeping ice from forming on the guides. Also, be careful removing ice from the tip top. Let the ice melt between your fingers before forcing it out.

This isnt quite the same, but a guy did a seminar at one of our club meetings on using flies through the ice.He even had a short 3 ft. bamboo fly rod for it.You arent casting but the photos he had of some large gills and perch surprised me.His son also got a very large pike.This was in a large pond.Someone else told me that somewhere in Europe fishing with flies through the ice was illegal,its too deadly.Im another one who isnt going to fish in the winter,age slows your ambition to fish right down.