The Streamer Game

Well, it’s begun. I knew it was inevitable, and it has taken some time. But, I’m going down The Streamer Rabbit Hole.

My eyes were opened last June when fellow blogger, Ashu Rao, and I headed to Maine and landed many huge brookies (post here). The best fly? A five-inch white streamer. Here are some photos.

At the Farmington, during high flows in the spring, I often deployed pages from the Euro-Streamer playbook and did well. Recently, Ashu and I floated with Tall Timber’s senior guide, Mickey Cunliffe (post here), who explained why he fishes only streamers 90% of the time.

So, I’ve ordered a seven-weight streamer rod, an Orvis 10′ H3-D, and just got some articulated flies from Kelly Galloup, which I will use as prototypes as I tie my own. I already have many smaller streamers, but I think having some larger ones will be a good idea.

Last, I will be re-reading George Daniel’s Strip-Set, which was a fun read the first time.

I’m looking forward to this next step in my fly-fishing journey. Any advice?

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10 thoughts on “The Streamer Game

  1. Funny thing, I just fished Labrador and took my largest Trout on #8 WBuggers like I fish at home and not the various #2 Monsters I spent hours tying up! YMMV.

    1. Good to know! I will be throwing both the biggies and the usual (smaller) streamers. We will see how I do!

  2. Understanding natural forage, thinking of trout as predators (that’ll can be hard at first), and getting as much action out of your streamer with as little effort as possible are the best things you could do to be as good a streamer fisherman you can. You already know where trout sit and how they react to different conditions and in different types of streams… you’ll be a more productive streamer angler in less time than the numerous anglers that jumped right in at streamers and never learned some of the fundamentals you can’t learn without practicing nymphing and dry fly fishing.

    1. You’re very kind to say so and to write. But, I feel like a new rookie. And, that makes streamer fishing humbling, uncertain and fun.

  3. Don’t forget such old standards as Black Nose Dace and Muddler M. I’ve had great success with both on the Deerfield and the Westfield. This was years ago when I mostly did streamer fishing. Another good pattern, especially since you already like a white streamer, is a large Zonker pattern (#6 & 8 hooks) with white rabbit stip. For Zonkers, I prefer a pearl-essence body to silver, with a lot of wire wrapped abound hook shank. Good luck.

  4. Speaking of old standards, one should not discount the wooly bugger. I had some action Friday evening during a brief window to fish. One connection during a dead drift, two tugs on the swing later on, then an outright vicious hit from right off the opposite bank where I finished up fishing. As soon as the fly hit the water I stripped it in, and could not believe that brown didn’t stay connected after a very brief but impressive display.

    1. A truly impressive pattern, you’re right. I’m most partial to an olive WB. For some reason, I get the most WB-related hits on that color.

  5. And one day last week when I could only get a couple on midge dries in Y-Pool, I switched to Olive sparkle Woolly Bugger and hooked eight in quick succession. That was nice surprise.

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