Fly Fishing With Streamers

By Steve Galletta

Fly Fishing With Streamers

This is a favorite way to fish on a guide's day off and also one of my favorite things to introduce anglers to who have not tried it before. Streamer fishing is one of those techniques that is hard to have confidence in, until you have been successful with it. While anglers often streamer fish to go after some of the largest trout, streamer fishing at the right times can bring quantity as well as quality to the net. On larger rivers such as the Bighorn and Yellowstone, a certain level of casting proficiency tends to be necessary in order to be successful while fishing streamers.

At times hitting your spots and placement of your fly is key to motivate a trout to chase. Whether fishing the banks or mid river structure, your ability to place your fly in likely holding areas is going to be the key to your success. And more often than not, the more spots you hit, the more fish you will have come to your fly.

Some people often consider streamer fishing to be a less technical form of pursuit while chasing trout. I don't agree with that. Matching your streamer technique and fly patterns to variables such as river type, water clarity, weather and water temperature will have a significant impact on your success rate.

Streamer Technique & Fishing Conditions

There are many ways to present your streamer, from pounding the banks, to slow and deep strips, long strips, short strips, strip-strip-pause, mend & twitch, dead-drift and swing. With the equipment and rigging style I presented above you can use several techniques to present your streamer to the fish. A little common sense goes a long way when deciding which method will work best the day you are on the river. Here are a few examples: I tend to fish slower and deeper during the winter and late fall or when a significant temperature change has occurred. At this time I typically incorporate longer and slower strips, many times in the deepest and slowest part of the run. When water temps are lower and the trout's metabolism is low, being methodical in your approach is key, hit the trout on the nose.

When fishing the banks, I like to key in on structure, seams and drop offs within five feet of the bank. I typically do the best pounding the banks when water temperatures are ideal for trout--in the 50′s or so. Your strips are typically fast and erratic and your arm should be thoroughly worn out at the end of the day. This fishing is not for everyone, but can certainly be exciting. When fishing banks, as an angler I am trying to appeal to a trout's opportunistic feeding behavior, where as a predator the trout cannot pass up an easy prey. This is when we typically get the most explosive takes and what I call kill shots. There isn't any chase to the boat, just hit your spot with the fly, line goes tight and fish on. If you are getting several chases but no kill shot, then first change the pace of your strip and if that does not work, change your fly. When a river rises and clarity diminishes, the fish will move to the banks. Prime streamer fishing on the banks often occurs when a river is dropping and just clearing. As visibility improves, it is time to pound the banks hard. This trend is very evident on a river such as the Yellowstone.

Another technique I like to use is a dead drift and/or mend and twitch approach. This approach is fished slower and works well in pocket water, around mid-river boulders and fishing runs out of a boat. For example, when you come upon a mid- river boulder you will have deeper holding water in front of, on the sides, and, most of all, behind the boulder as well as in the accompanying downstream seam. Fish in all of these. But the most ideal conditions will be (???unwilling to elevate to a streamer just below the surface), in a short deep hole. Your ability to manipulate your line through mending will allow you to get your fly deep in the hole and most importantly keep it there. Once it's in the strike zone, you can impart action to your fly, in association with the plunging action of the current, through short twitches. This technique is valuable in sculpin rich waters. Sculpins hold tight to the river bottom(hence the shape of their body) and keeping your fly sliding across the rocks, using a dead drift technique, will increase your catch rate.

Equipment and Rigging

I typically streamer fish with a 9 foot rod of 6 weight or 7 weight, with a matching weight line or a line one weight higher than the weight of the rod. My lines typically have quick loading front tapers that are ideal for throwing short sink tips.

I typically always use a sink tip around 7 feet in length. The tips from RIO come in sink rates ranging from 1.0 ips(inch per second) to 7.0 ips and can cover a wide variety of streamer fishing conditions and can match well with many different rod actions and weights. I do not use full sinking lines for my river fishing because they take longer to load and are difficult for non-advanced fisherman to pick up off the water, because of their length. Off the end of my sink tips I fish heavy monofilament or fluorocarbon in 2 foot to 4 foot sections to my fly. There is no need to go light here--12 to 20 pound test is ideal and you do not want to use too long of a tippet section off of your sink tip. If you use too long of a tippet section, your fly will not sink at the same rate as your sink tip and your fly will stay up in the water column.

Pattern Selection

If there is one rule to streamer pattern selection it is to fish the fly you have confidence in. We all tend to have a fondness for that one fly that caught that one 20+ inch fish on that one day when all the stars aligned and that big beautiful trout ate your fly. Go with your instinct. It worked well once--why not again? I always enjoy changing flies and trying new patterns, but I do have have certain trends I seem to follow when it comes to streamer flies.

What I look for are: movement of the fly in the water, silhouette and color. I have a thing for flies tied with rabbit strips and marabou. These materials move or "breathe" extremely well in the water. I also like deer hair heads. They not only imitate sculpins, but deer hair on the the front of your fly pushes water, which is picked up by the extremely sensitive lateral line of the fish. I find this to be especially key when fishing dirty water. One of my favorite patterns also incorporates lead in its body, which allows the fly to wobble in the water, making the fly act as if it's injured. Carry a wide selection of flies in various silhouettes and colors. There is nothing wrong with trial and error. Keep your hooks sharp and fish hard. You will discover patterns you regularly rely on and be pleasantly surprised when a new pattern moves fish.

Steve Galletta is the owner of Montana Trout Anglers, a Bighorn River based Guide Service. He also maintains a Bighorn River Blog at bighornflyfishing.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Galletta
http://EzineArticles.com/?Fly-Fishing-With-Streamers&id=5768872