Weighted streamers

[Redfin]

For those of you who tie many streamers.
When tying beadhead or cone head patterns, Do you wrap additional lead weight around the hook shank?
Or does this make them too heavy? If I was going with tungsten I would use just the bead/cone. but let's say using brass..
Normal pa sizes- #12-6's

I just got done reading a good streamer book. N have been tying up streamers and don't know if they are to heavy or to light. Never tried fishing streamers much and want to give it a honest shot. I hate having to use sinkers to get a fly down.
Thanks

 

[CLSports]

Generally weighted streamers are difficult to cast and don't really act very naturally in the water.

Try to tie them unweighted and just add a small 5' section of a sink tip line (orvis, rio, airflo all make them) to your leader. Also shorten the actual leader to only about 3'-4'.

It makes casting much easier and the presentation much more life like. If you really want to get deep you can go with a 10' sink tip or a heavier weight. Many are measured in inches per second (ips) sink rates or a "T" value. (T-8, T11, T-14, etc.)

 

[Dave_W]

Redfin wrote:
For those of you who tie many streamers.
When tying beadhead or cone head patterns, Do you wrap additional lead weight around the hook shank?

Yes, I do this all the time.

I'm an advocate of very heavy streamers and use them a lot. CLS is right that this affects casting, but I disagree about the natural appearance part. Think of how effective jigs are for gear fishermen - a heavy streamer is basically a jig and has very lifelike action.

Some "chuck and duck" casting practice will allow you to handle heavy streamers. Very heavy streamers allow you to fish deep and essentially target species - think walleyes or bass in cold water, or trout in very heavy current - that would otherwise be very tough to get at. In small, tight streams with dense weeds or brushy cover, a heavy streamer plops down and allows you to fish these tight spots.

One thing to consider: when you tie heavy streamers, tie 'em fairly sparse as thick, bushy flies,esp with deer hair, don't sink as fast. A sparse fly really gets down easier.

Tie up a couple with different tungsten or extra lead wraps and practice casting them in the back yard just to get a feel for how they feel.

 

[Redfin]

Thanks guys.

I need some recipes for good leader for streamers as well. I make my own and need a few. I may post that question in the regular forum.

 

[pro4mance]

Keep it here, no need to start a new thread. I'll post tomorrow on the OP heading to hockey practice.

 

[pete41]

Buy a couple in the size you use, from a top source and weigh them..dumbest move I ever made in flyfishing was buying a gross of size 2 unweighted light spruce streamer flies from Dan Baileys..living in Montana at the time.---You can wrap lead around them but better to get the weighed or tie them so.
Speaking from western point of view-sink tips,sinking heads was all I ever used with streamers-4 to 5 foot leader as I wanted them to get down fast as most hits happened when the fly started to slow,turn and rise at the end of drift.
Smaller eastern waters may fish different but 40 years later still laughing at myself for buying unweighted streamers.

 

[RCFetter]

I tie Wooly Buggers with a brass bead head and 8 to 10 wraps of .2 lead. On still water, like a calm lake, they make quite a splash.

 

[JMP]

I tie streamers three ways. Unweighted, bead head and bead head with lead wraps. This allows me to be prepared for any condition. I watched a video fishing streamers in skinny late summer water. The method was to cast across and strip fast. Keep moving forward with the same technique. He caught many fish this way. We know how difficult it can be to fish low clear water. This method simply worked for him. I tie all three so I am prepared for the water conditions. If I get hung up, I simply switch to the lighter version.

 

[jacob]

Tie em as heavy as you can cast. Like JMP said, I prefer to have patterns in different weights - a heavy *** mother, a lightly weighted brother, and a non-weighted sister.

If you are concerned with casting em':

Timing is everything. Also, minimize your false casting or eliminate it altogether. Just give a nice lift, shoot it back, wait for that rod to load up, and shoot it back out. Double hauling with heavy streamers (I feel) is a necessity, at least when you go up to a certain point in weight. My point being, don't false cast, or if you must, maybe once or twice to change directions. Trust me, you'll be able to shoot it far enough.

Also, consider learning the switch cast (a glorified roll cast) or some spey techniques (one handed). I have been nerding out on spey techniques lately and have incorporated a lot of the casts into my regular "workflow" with a single handed rod - with a heavy streamer, they will come in handy. I find myself single hand spey casting a lot since I've learned how to do it, and it is tempting me to buy a switch/spey 😛

 

[Dave_W]

Redfin wrote:
I need some recipes for good leader for streamers as well. I make my own and need a few.

Use heavy tippet.

I never cease to be amazed at the guys using 4X for streamers. I prefer much heavier tippet, usually in the 14lb test range for both bass and trout fishing. On very clear, heavily pressured streams in the Cumberland Valley, I might drop down to 12lb flourocarbon.

Really, you don't want or need light tippet for streamers.

 

[nomad_archer]

Dave_W wrote:

Redfin wrote:
I need some recipes for good leader for streamers as well. I make my own and need a few.

Use heavy tippet.

I never cease to be amazed at the guys using 4X for streamers. I prefer much heavier tippet, usually in the 14lb test range for both bass and trout fishing. On very clear, heavily pressured streams in the Cumberland Valley, I might drop down to 12lb flourocarbon.

Really, you don't want or need light tippet for streamers.

Thanks for the info Dave.

I am still warming to the idea of heavier tippet/leaders for streamers but I now that I have had lots of luck with a short leader with 8lb or 3xish tippet, I will never go any lighter. I could see going to 12lb or heavier without any issues. I had 17lb and 8lb mono on hand so that is what I used to make a short streamer leader of about 6'. Its probably far from the ideal leader but it has worked well enough for me this fall. If I had 12lb on hand I would have used that. When I finally decide to buy some maxima I will give a heavier leader a try.

 

[Redfin]

Jmp,
I can definitely see it working. The pa famous Nale brothers fish there spinners like this n what they are doing is basically fishing hard n get coving lots of water catching only active fish or reaction strikes.
It's basically the same thing but with a fly rod.

 

[Redfin]

Thanks for all the great advice. I would have been the guy throwing streamers on 8 lb tippet.

 

[nomad_archer]

Redfin wrote:
Thanks for all the great advice. I would have been the guy throwing streamers on 8 lb tippet.

And you would have been fine. But sounds like heavier is better.

 

[pete41]

I found from much experience out west [where I lived] going heavier than 8pds resulted in a decrease in numbers but I was fishing in the gin clear waters of fall and winter.Don't remember the diameter.
The rest of the year I fished nymphs,or night fished.If you have never seen the yellowstone in winter you would not believe how clear it is.You can see marble sized pebbles in 6 feet of water.

 

[PennKev]

Redfin wrote:
Thanks guys.

I need some recipes for good leader for streamers as well. I make my own and need a few. I may post that question in the regular forum.

4 to 10 feet of heavy fluoro or mono, length to suit situation. There really is no need to have a "formula" IMO. Any streamer worth fishing will have enough mass to get out there at the end of your cast. Just run flat mono/fluoro. Maybe run a leader that has a couple feet of slightly lighter mono as tippet so that break offs don't require you to replace the whole thing. Otherwise, no need to have a carefully built taper.

 

[pete41]

PennKev wrote:

Redfin wrote:
Thanks guys.

I need some recipes for good leader for streamers as well. I make my own and need a few. I may post that question in the regular forum.

4 to 10 feet of heavy fluoro or mono, length to suit situation. There really is no need to have a "formula" IMO. Any streamer worth fishing will have enough mass to get out there at the end of your cast. Just run flat mono/fluoro. Maybe run a leader that has a couple feet of slightly lighter mono as tippet so that break offs don't require you to replace the whole thing. Otherwise, no need to have a carefully built taper.

agree-

 

[mike_richardson]

All depends on the size of the fly. I would also say that it wouldn't hurt to have a few weighted streamers for when the water is up. I test a lot of my stuff before I give it the stamp of approval.

I tested one of my Black Nose Dace buggers on Sunday. These have a Large Dumbell eye on them. I thought that would be plenty, but found that in high flow water, it was not getting down fast enough. I wouldn't recommend weighting all of them.

Also I am really cranking out buggers lately that the way I tie them, to build durability, I have to watch when I weight them. ON the dace bugger it has 3 marabou tails. When I tie them in I wrap the thread over the marabou feathers all the way up to the eye. IF I weight that hook with say .20 lead wire and tie in all three marabou like that Im going to have one really fat bugger.

I don't like to use split shot but in my case I think you are better off carrying a split shot baggy of maybe bb or b for those high flow times, and keep them unweighted. That way your flies are consistent and will not have variances in body thickness. If you aren't into using the shot then I would just weight a couple.

The streamer may fish great in high flow times if weighted, but may be a toad to cast and such.

 

[nomad_archer]

mike_richardson wrote:

Also I am really cranking out buggers lately that the way I tie them, to build durability, I have to watch when I weight them. ON the dace bugger it has 3 marabou tails. When I tie them in I wrap the thread over the marabou feathers all the way up to the eye. IF I weight that hook with say .20 lead wire and tie in all three marabou like that Im going to have one really fat bugger.

An alternative is to use regular or tungsten cone heads and add lead to maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the hook. Then only tie the marabou to the point where lead starts. Add the rest of your materials as you normally would. That should yield a heavy bugger without all of the bulk. You could also go to a small chenille. I guess the point is there are ways to minimize bulk and still add lots of weight to a streamer.

 

[moon1284]

Yes I tie streamers with cone heads and lead. My goal is to weight the streamer enough to use no spot shot. I usually fish weighted size 2 or 4 muddier a or zonker pattern. I rarely throw cone heads because I usually don't need the weight. I usually use floating line except in high springtime flows. I know plenty of people who use heavy tippet, but I use 8lb maxima for size 2 or 4 and 6lb maxima for smaller streamers. For me, its strong enough and I feel like lighter line sinks faster. I normally begin fishing very early, before dawn. Regardless of the time of year I fish streamers first thing until about 2 hours after sunrise, so I use them very often. I don't think I broke a fish off on a streamer all of last year. On the rare occasion I use sinking line, I'll use a 6' 12# maxima leader. Last piece of advice, if you want to fish heavy streamers, get a 7 (or even an 8). Throwing them on a 6 sucks, let alone a 5.

All of the above was for trout, for steelhead I use 12lb maxima.