Streamers , dry vers wet profile

[Streammagic237]

I have been messing around with streamers in minnow patterns and I know I could probably do a nice job with synthetics in white and some colored markers but I really like using feathers in different colors and buck tails ect.( natural fibers ) I was curious if there is a way to gauge the wet profile with dry feathers while tying ? Is it just trial and error till you get a feel for it or can you gauge it . Thanks in advance .

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Streammagic,

If you tie streamers only for trout learn to tie the Clouser Minnow and the Clouser Foxee Minnow. They are essentially the same pattern but one is tied with bucktail and one is tied with fox tail.

In heavy off colored water a Clouser minnow like most people would only fish for smallmouth works great. I'll use down to size 2 for trout, often weird colors like all black or all white get fish to attack. The Clouser Foxee minnow is a little different because it's almost impossible to find fox tail that is long enough for a hook larger than size 4. I bought some coyote tails from a trapper rendezvous just to get longer stuff. I tie them in natural minnow colors, the tan and amber fibers on a Fox tail cover 99% of the minnows commonly found in PA streams. I tie them on Tiemco 200R's or whatever knock-off I can find for cheap in size 6 to 10.

The nice thing about the Foxee minnow is that you can over tie them with too much Fox tail and once it gets wet it slims down nicely.

I don't tie feather wing streamers because I suck at working with them except as tails on poppers, though I do use a lot of marabou which is a feather of sorts. It slims down nicely when wet too.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[Bamboozle]

I have been messing around with streamers in minnow patterns and I know I could probably do a nice job with synthetics in white and some colored markers but I really like using feathers in different colors and buck tails ect.( natural fibers ) I was curious if there is a way to gauge the wet profile with dry feathers while tying ? Is it just trial and error till you get a feel for it or can you gauge it . Thanks in advance .

Wet 'em and get out a hair dryer...

When I was heavily into dying, the only way I could get a feel for a color was to do a test on something white, dry it out, wet it in water to see how it looked and adjust if necessary.

When working on determining profiles of different materials when wet, the same thing goes; at least for me...

Many moons ago I took the Black Nosed Dace streamer into trout imitation territory and made my own versions of a Little Brook, Brown & Rainbow Trout using different layers & colors of bucktail and dipping it in water to see how they looked.

They looked better (to me) than they fished... 😉

I also also came up with a sac fry pattern using the same bucktail layers but a pale color with a big tuft of orange yellow dyed marabou under the head to suggest the remainder of the egg. This creation took several dunkings in water to get it right.

The sac fry was winner...

BTW - Apologies if you know this tip already... If you want to experiment with synthetic hair, a pair of coarse thinning shears will create uneven ends on the fibers like natural hair and you can taper it to shape.

 

[troutbert]

You could tie some test patterns, that submerge them in a bowl of water or kitchen sink.

Marabou slims down a lot when saturated, and also it's a soft material so you lose some to wear and tear when fishing, so tie in a LOT of marabou.

 

[JeffK]

Submerging in a bowl is important. For example, wet marabou in air will clump together and look very slim. It will look different submerged.

I was once a big jig tier and their suggestions for material I think holds well with streamers. Use softer material the slower you fish to get the best action and for fast action use a coarser material that holds shape better. Some jigs are fished essentially static and you need something very soft like marabou to move with very little motion. No jig is entirely static - one demonstration used to lower a jig into a glass of water from a canepole and watch. For stripping faster bucktail was more commonly used and squirrel tail is even stiffer.

Similar for depth. The softer the material the quicker it will sink since it has less resistance in water. Therefore, use soft materials when you need to get down deep and coarse materials to fish higher in the water column.