Fishing streamers on small streams?

[Redfin]

Those of you who fish smaller streams with streamers how do you usually fish them?
I ask because I was out a few days ago and the stream was smaller sized. Standing there with a 8.5 rod n 7-8ft leader I really didn't have much line out to work the fly. Like stripping. A few places I could but not very many strips before I was into my leader.

Do you guys just do more dead drifts, and down and across short swings?
It was kinda tough to do it. I would say the stream is about 20 ft wide or so. Standing on edge with my 8.5ft rod n leader just hanging out I'm almost to the other side with no fly line out.

I'm totally new to fishing streamers and I'm coming from high stick nymphing mostly. N it just seems hard to work the streamers on smaller water for me.

Maybe I shouldn't work the streamer at all? Just drift it like a nymph?
I have fished smallmouth with streamers n that was simple cause I have allot of room and cast n can strip but this has me scratching my head.

Any advice

 

[streamerguy]

I rarely dead drift streamers on small streams, other than when I want to give it time to sink down and then I'll start working it. But dead drifting can work, especially with smaller flies.

It really depends on the exact spot. When you can strip it, strip it. Many times when fishing the smaller holding lies you're doing more twitching than stripping. Or even jigging if you have a fly with heavy eyes. Any lively action you can give the streamer is a good thing. High stick it like a nymph while twitching it throughout the drift.

Shortening your leader a little may help

 

[steveo27]

Agreed. Shorter leader and maybe even a shorter rod. I fish a 7'6" on smaller streams with a 6' to 7' leader when I fish buggers in small streams.

 

[foxfire]

I use a 6.5" 2w, and never use a leader and tippet combo over 7"

 

[foxfire]

Correction, 7'.

 

[Maurice]

Its hard to do down and across on small streams. I find that casting from the riffle below up to the head of the pool and giving it a few seconds to sink then stripping it fast back down through is very effective. When I say fast I mean Long strips one after the other. Remember the current is moving the fly too so short slower strips is almost dead drifting.

Small stream fish are typically opportunistic. Small stream fish usually hang out in the same pools for long periods. The pool bosses pretty much know every inch of the pool they are in and ate most of the forage by now. Something new shows up unannounced and its like waking up from a nap and seeing the old lady just put dinner on the table. You usually only get one chance though so be ready and go after the big guy first because if you startle it by shaking up the other fish, its game over.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

It's not pretty, but suspending a heavy bugger off a thingamabobber and snap jigging it does work. Say, you are targeting an under cut bank with a overhanging limb to boot. You can "center pin" the streamer under there. Basically, it allows you to fish other ways than upstream or swinging when casting is very tough.

 

[REDNECK_FLYFISHER]

I love small stream fishing. Normally I use nymphs and A foam fly indicator but every now and then I will tie on A #10 picket pin. I normally use A 4 wt 7'6" rod with no more than A 7 foot leader. I actually have had A lot of luck with this setup. With nymphs the take is usually more subtle but with the picket pin the brookies usually smash it.

 

[Swattie87]

Spot on advice already mentioned above so I won’t repeat the technique stuff.

I will say, that in colder weather my preferred method for fishing small streams, especially higher gradient ones with plunge pools, is with a small heavily weighted Bugger…small as in like size 14. I basically just dead drift it, with an occasional twitch or extra movement added as it passes by cover or other likely holding spots. Sometimes I’ll just more or less “dap” or “jig” it in likely spots. Once the weather warms, an attractor dry will generally outfish the mini Bugger numbers wise, but the Bugger will produce bigger fish from the bigger, deeper pools. I’ll often switch to the small Bugger setup if I come to a real primo “pool boss” style hole, even when otherwise fishing dries.

FWIW my small stream set up is generally a 7’0 4wt, with a relatively short leader…6 foot-ish.

 

[Redfin]

Man you guys are a great help! I do want to try the smaller streamers along with some old classics. With the melt we are to have I may be tying this weekend instead of fishing.
I will definitely try the advice given here. Thanks

I have custom 6' 3wt and a st croix 7.5' 4wt. Maybe I should have been fishing those instead.
So you guys think streams that are under say 30ft I be better off with my 7.5ft. Or under?
My 7.5' can I load it with my 5wt line n fish it effectively?
Maybe I could throw these heavier streamers too. Now I need to find a 7.5' 6 wt! I never seen one but that would be sweet rod.

I was throwing size #8 and #6 patterns that day. Weighted I make my own leaders so I will build some shorter to try next time.

 

[AgFox]

John Gierach in his book, Fly Fishing Small Streams, addresses this as well as most other questions on techniques for fishing small streams under varying conditions. Good read.

 

[HopBack]

So you guys think streams that are under say 30ft I be better off with my 7.5ft. Or under?

30 ft! That's a river when your talking about small stream fishing.

I agree with what most people have already said, chuck your fly in a likely holding spot and hope for the best. You don't really get a second or 3rd chance using this style on small streams. Limit your time in any one spot and cover some ground for the best results.

 

[ryc72]

http://www.orvis.com/news/fly-fishing/tuesday-tip-how-to-fish-streamers-in-small-waters/

 

[CastingAcross]

The casting isn't pretty, but I try to use a longer leader with a weighted streamer. That allows me to work a fly all the way up through a pool without laying my line right in the middle of it.

Sometimes this is incredibly impractical, but if you can huck a size 8 or 10 beadhead with only a few feet of line and a long leader it can be a great way to move a streamer through an entire pool.

 

[Chaz]

On small streams I usually use my 7'6" 4weight loomis rod. It is fast enough to cast a streamer across a stream the size you write about. I use weight on all my streamers to get them down and this also helps casting streamers. I seldom dead rift, but I will let the fly sink a bit before I start stripping line. I also strip slow, and usually hesitate between strips. Many strikes happen during that hesitation. I will also drift flies when I don't have room to cast, and also let the flies swing when down stream of me. I do a lot of roll casting.

 

[RLeep2]

I don't think this is all that complex.. If you've drifted a crawler or any bait for that matter through the pools in a smaller stream, doing it with a streamer is pretty much the same drill except you twitch or strip the fly PRN as it drifts past or through the holding water you are targeting. Get it down, control the speed of the drift and keep in touch with the fly. Same as you would with a worm, a salamander or whatever.

Didn't anybody here besides me do an apprenticeship with bait?

Sometimes, I wonder....

 

[Swattie87]

RLeep2 wrote:
Didn't anybody here besides me do an apprenticeship with bait?

Sometimes, I wonder....

We were all born with a silver fly rod in our hands. Or was it up our... :-o

 

[salmonoid]

All the advice given, while varied, is correct and good There is really no wrong way to fish a streamer on a small stream. For me, it's really the only method I fish in the winter time and I usually only fish small streams as well. Sometimes, the fish will be active and you'll pick them up on a slow retrieve. Other times, you can plunk a streamer in a pool and a fish will just saunter over to it and start rooting at it. And other times, they'll be sulking in their caves (any small rocks or logs or any sort of cover) and you'll have to drop a bugger right beside them and even jig it up and down to pull them out of hiding.

On a small stream, I rarely have more than my leader out, except for on the occasional larger pool that may be present. For that very reason, I will at times fish a bugger on a 6'6" spinning rod, because the fly line just gets in my way. I will fish anything from size 6-14; the larger the size, the more of a traditional streamer approach I take to fishing. On the smaller size, it's sort of like fishing a large nymph. I prefer to have any weights built into the streamer, which works just fine on a wooly bugger or similar streamer. Shorter rod is often better, but it depends on what you end up being comfortable with.

 

[SteveG]

I guess I'm the black sheep... If I'm tossing streamers on smaller water as you describe, my go to is a medium action 9' 6wt, spooled with a 7wt line, and around a 4-5ft leader. It is a roll casting (and other spey type casting) machine.

There isn't enough room for a sinking or sink-tip setup, so my flies are weighted, and I don't relish the idea of trying to toss a weighted sz6 streamer with a light rod and line setup.

As far as technique, yes, smaller jigging and twitching movements are ideal. Don't discount letting your streamer suspend stationary at a current seam though, you will get some vicious strikes.

 

[troutfanatic]

My main target tends to be browns. If I am hitting a blueline where I know there are some larger ones. I use a 7' 4 weight versus the 2 or 3 I would use flinging flies.
I tend to look for structure like undercut banks or the head of a large pool. I roll cast to the bank and basically use the rod to drag it through the structure. I only drift it when it first hits the water or it is really cold. I seldom strip because there isn't time or size to really do it in the trickles I fish.
I have brought some decent fish to hand using that method. I like small weighted zonkers, slumpbusters, sculpins with a micro helmet and I've modified some wooly buggers to look more like miniature galloup patterns.