Streamer Help
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I am pretty new to fishing with streamers in rivers. I usually only use them on lakes. When and how is it best to fish them? Would you say use full sinking line or sink-tip? I have heard that sink-tip lines still raise the fly to much so you should use a full sinking line (I hope that’s true because I only have full sinking line). Any info would really be great. Thanks.
-Kid
BTW where has everyone been? The board has been pretty dead for a while.
Kid,
Listen to Zach’s second podcast with Mike A, it covers streamer tactics for large trout.
As for line choice, I think a full sinking line would be overkill in most situations. An exception for where you are might be run-off. For the rest of the year an intermediate line would be fine; I would base my decision on water depth and current speed.
The rest is kind of like everything else about fly fishing for trout. You’ll find something you are comfortable with and that works 80 or 90% of the time, and for the exceptions you’ll have to experiment i.e. weighted vs unweighted, dead drift vs stripping, varying retrieves, that stuff.
As for when to use them, I’ve been fishing with friends who caught trout on woolly buggers at the same time I was hooking up on dries. As a general rule though, I use them for hunting bigger fish or when I don’t see any visible signs of feeding.
I’m sorry I don’t have any toppings to go on that vanilla response.
Splitshot
I don’t know if an intermediate line is going to get you down well enough in “very high, very fast” water.
Kelly Galloup is probably the foremost expert on streamer tactics, and he recommends a full-sink line to keep the streamer level throughout the retrieve.
http://www.flyfisherman.com/skills/jsgalloup/
On tailwaters, I’ve been throwing a 300-grain sink tip, which seems to work fairly well, but I’ve been thinking about going to a full-sink line to see if it is more effective.
In my experience, it’s hard to get good advice about streamer fishing, because it seems like the vast majority of fly fishermen, even experts, don’t do it much.
Intermediate line sucks for streamer fishing in fast water IMO. It would be good if you plan to fish slower moving water. What weight rod will you be using, is it fast or Slow. A fast (sage XP fast) 7 or 8 wt with a 300 or 350 grain shooting head works very well. You’ll get to where with one false cast you can lay 60 to 80 ft of line out with no problem. I can’t come anywhere close to that with intermediate and one or two false cast. Read Kelly’s book man, it might change the way you fish forever. It covers everything from rod and reel choice to some really good patterns to how to fish them. Orvis depthcharged line has served me well for two years now. It is a bit pricey at $79 though.
BD, once a bait chunker, always a bait chunker, and lovin it! ;D
The title of the book is “Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout” authored by Bob Linsenmann and Kelly Galloup. The book seemed more oriented for the drift boat angler but it is still excellent.
There is also a DVD that Kelly put out with Fly Fish TV that addresses streamer fishing for the wade angler.
For line I suggest the Teeny Professional series that Kelly designed. It’s a full sinking line and it’s only 60 feet long. Kelly really stresses the lack of need to make long casts with this type of fishing. With the FS line the need to cast a weighted fly is negated.
One other thing I’ve had a little success with is trailing the streamer with a smaller fly – maybe a #8 or 10 prince or bugger. I’m still experimenting with figuring out the “best” fly for the trailer.
The vast majority of the fish you see with “jerk strip” fishing will run up to the streamer but never take it. A few of those fish will hit the smaller trailer fly just before you get to the boat.
This method sacrifices numbers for quality, and you make many, many casts between fish. So one or two extra fish on the trailer really counts for something.
Streamer fishing in my opinion is the best kind of fishing. I love throwing small fish to catch huge fish ;D. The key to streamer fishing I think is action and color. You want to use streamers with lots of action (rabbit strips, flashabou etc.) You also want to key in on the color the fish are looking for. It takes a while on the river to find out, but once you do it makes life a lot easier. The right equipment makes things easier too. A 6wt or higher with a 200 grain sink tip or heavier has worked great for me. Also went it comes to stripping or not, there really is no messing up. You don’t really need a drag free drift. 😉
Kid,
I have never fished the box, I hear the Fork is a brawling river at that point (with some monster fish!)All of the above advice is great, one thing i would add is to overline your rod by several sizes, especially if you are not going to be making long casts.
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