Fly Fishing with Streamers

Streamers usually work best near the bottom imitating the sculpins and other appetizing food for trout. Using a weighted streamer, a weighted tippit, a braided butt leader with weight in it, a sinking tip line, or a sinking line all can be useful for getting the streamer to the bottom. Select according to your preferences and the fishing conditions.

To properly fish streamers, you are likely to snag the fly on the bottom. This means that either you are definitely getting the fly deep enough or that you are stripping the line too slowly. The fact is, if you are fishing so you have the best chance of catching trout, you are bound to lose a few streamers on sticks, moss, or whatever on the river bottom.

In shallow slower flowing water you have to strip the streamer rapidly to keep it from dropping completely to the bottom and snagging. In faster deeper water a slower strip may be better.

The idea of stripping the streamer is that you cast it across the current and start stripping the line in short jerks. This gives the streamer the look of a swimming minnow. You can do this in shallow clear water to see how it looks. Slightly uneven stripping action can make it look like a wounded sculpin which really attracts fish.

Different conditions require using varied stripping actions. Colder water usually requires slower stripping. In deeper water if you are not using an enormous streamer or a lot of weight, dead drifting can be effective. Test different speeds of stripping to find what is working best.

You can also experiment with different colors and sizes of streamers. Sometimes the fish hammer the largest sizes. Other days they give that large streamer a bump and roll away. The bumping action can be an indicator you should immediately cast right back into the same spot. Fish often bump a sculpin to stun it and then go back a second time to actually eat it.

If the fish are bumping the streamer without ever taking it, you may discover that streaking is a good option. Strip the streamer as fast as you can to provoke the fish into an emphatic response.

Another solution might be to use the same streamer in a smaller size. Trying another color of streamer can be necessary. Part of the enjoyment of fly fishing is adapting to changing conditions that affect how the trout are feeding.

Streamers typically are the largest wet flies and some of them can be ridiculously large. I remember a day my husband tied a six inch long articulated streamer and we went fishing with friends.

They mocked this "half a chicken" and thought it was worthless. But my husband tied it onto his line at a deep hole where we stopped to wade on the Madison River in Montana. His second cast resulted in a great explosion of trout and water spray.

Our friends were speechless as he played this tremendous trout and I ran for the big net in the boat. The trout was 26 inches long and our friends were far more respectful after that!

If you are tying streamers, hook sizes 6, 4, and 2 are preferred choices. Adding lead during the tying process helps them drop near the bottom in the current more quickly.

For more information about how to tie great streamers for catching large trout, see Bern Sundell's Power Streamers Advanced Fly Tying Dvd.