How do you fish streamers ?

greenhead55

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Joined
Dec 27, 2008
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When fishing streamers how exactly do you do it ? Do you mend the line and strip or do you let the belly pull the fly ? Do you cast upstream or straight in front of you ? Are there any instructional videos on the web somewhere ? I have started to tie some and would like to fish these. Do you just use a normal 9.5 ft leader like a 5x ? Thanks for the help !
 
It really depends on where you are fishing and what you are targeting.
Many posts on the subject-hopefully someone smarter than myself will help with search procedures.
Stocker bows will be different than stocker browns
Same with holdovers and mature and juvenile trout.
No one approach is best .
 
all i have been fishing is streamers lately. I have caught many stocker brookies, rainbows, and browns with the same method, ( but some methods vary im sure) btw i am new to fly fishing so i dont know how much help i can be. Most of the time i find a nice seam in the stream and cast diagonal up stream, let if flow down into the seam, if you dont get hit when its going down let if slide around then strip in with a jerky motion. this caught me many trout! hope it helps!
 
This Saturday I was casting straight in front of me and swinging the streamers. After it is swung, I would keep it in the current and twitching it. I caught fish both on the swing and while twitching. Caught about 20 on opening day by doing the same method. White streamer with enough weight to keep it under the surface a few inches while hanging in the current.
 
The beautiful thing about fishing streamers is that it really doesn't matter - they are kinda "idiot proof"...🙂

It REALLY depends on a bunch of factors and I'd like to think the best piece of advice would be to try different things on different rivers and see what works for you.

Heck, a couple weeks ago I was draggin one along the boat in between casts and caught a 19" brown.. That says it all!
 
greenhead, so far everyone's advice has been solid. As tdb said, they are kinda "idiot proof"-as long as it's in the water, it's probably doing something fish might like. The key to being good with streamers is being versatile. When you first decide to put a streamer on you want to start "prospecting" by mixing up as many retrieve/presentation styles as you can until you figure out a pattern. Swing it like a wet, twitch it, bounce it off the bottom like a nymph, strip it fast, strip it slow, lysering lift, and any other conceivable presentation. If you notice 2 or more fish hit it with the same presentation style, then focus on that style, but don't neglect throwing in some of the others on ocassion still. When picking out a color, a lot of guys say bright day=bright flies and vice versa. Forget the 5x. The minimum you probably want is 4x, but most of the time you'll want 2 or 3x. If you're fishing a big river, you might even need heavier than 2x, but for pa, probably not. Even a 10-12 inch fish can almost rip the rod out of your hands sometimes, which is why i like streamer fishing. Most people think of trout as shy or timid and fish with size 18,20 whatevers. With streamers you get to see trout's "other side"-brutal, vicious, predators. One last piece of advice, if a fish bats at it and you miss him, let the fly dead drift and watch your line/leader for a strike. Tight lines!
 
Heck, a couple weeks ago I was draggin one along the boat in between casts and caught a 19" brown.. T
My weirdest streamer take was when I was wading across the Madison,rod draped over my shoulder,fly just barely touching water-rainbow took it.
They still stocked in Montana then so must have been one of them as it took about four feet from me.lol
 
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