Streamer Confusion. Advice Welcome!

[jgib01]

First a little background on me... brand new to fly fishing this year. After a couple of early summer outings on a little lake in Lethbridge, I started my moving waters adventure with a lesson from Lynda McLennan, back in late July. Since then I've got out several times, on a few Southern Alberta rivers. I have fished streamers very little so far, with the majority of my success coming on nymphs and a few on drys.

 

Was out to a spot, where on my first trip there several weeks back I had zero luck on nymphs, hopper/dropper, stimmies, etc. So, first fly on this time was a medium-sized beadhead streamer on floating line. Casting was admittedly a bit of a challenge, but started not too bad for a windy-ish Southern Alberta day with my 6wt tip flex . But that was really when my confusion set in. I have watched a ton of stuff online (maybe too much), including the Orvis vids, Reds Fly Shop stuff, and several others, and really didnt even know how to start. I was quartering upstream, letting it swing with a little mend here and there, and then jigging a few times before starting to strip toward the end of the swing (à la Reds video on youtube). Struggled with this as the current was rather slow and getting lots of slack at times in my line. I managed a rather aggressive strike midway through one of my better swings, and had a good sized bow on for a solid minute (before I panicked about getting it to the reel, screwing up in the transition and losing it). Then struggled some more with the wind coming up and messing with my cast resulting in even worse examples of slack line swinging. Had another one on for a few seconds, which I quickly lost probably due to a very late attempt at a hookset. Who knows what other strikes I missed altogether due to my poor technique. By the time I thought to switch things up, I think I had sufficiently spooked everything in the stretch of water I was on. So, I moved upstream a bit and tried some casts perpendicular to the opposite shore, and a few in a more downstream direction with a more immediate active strip, but didnt get any more action.

 

What would your best made-in-Southern-Alberta streamer advice be for a rookie like me? I hope to sneak away maybe once or twice more before Nov 1, and thinking this time of year streamers might be my best go-to for those cooler days ahead.

[Jayhad]

What would your best “made-in-Southern-Alberta” streamer advice be for a rookie like me? I hope to sneak away maybe once or twice more before Nov 1, and thinking this time of year streamers might be my best go-to for those cooler days ahead.

First, try not to hotspot areas in your posts you may get no responses what so ever.

Second, more time on the water is what you need, the only way to learn how to hook up on streamers is to actually do it..... practice, practice, practice. you will want to present your streamers in places where ambush predators hang out, trout love structure, swing past structure.

Third, some guys streamer fish throughout the winter but your best bet will be nymphing, as the water cools fish get slow and generally won't chase food items unless it drifts right by it's face.

[ÜberFly]

Keep at it Jason. As Jay says above, "practice, practice practice"! Also try with swinging with a sink tip, adding more/less shot, increasing or decreasing you leader length, and switching up your streamers.

 

Cheers, P

 

P.S. No credit for all my stories and photos to help inspire your newly found passion?! :-(

 

< jk>

[jgib01]

Keep at it Jason. As Jay says above, "practice, practice practice"! Also try with swinging with a sink tip, adding more/less shot, increasing or decreasing you leader length, and switching up your streamers. Cheers, P P.S. No credit for all my stories and photos to help inspire your newly found passion?! :-( < jk>

Of course Pete... yours was the final push I needed to jump into this game. Can I blame you the next time my wife registers a formal complaint about a) $$$'s spent, or, b ) time devoted to learning said passion?

[ÜberFly]

Jason,

 

The key is to get her fishing then she will start to understand (theoretically). Deb still gives me *hit as I keep upgrading with new and giving her my hand me downs (she caught on to that trick REALLY fast)!

 

 

P

[bcubed]

Personally, swinging on smaller waters is a bit of a time waster in my mind. I'd rather walk 5 km of water, and fish to aggressive chasing fish, rather then swing through 1km of water in the same time. For the most part, the fish in the smaller streams are going to be constricted to pretty specific areas, and one cast per spot will work. There are also enough fish around that you don't have to hope that there is a fish in a run. Odds are, there is, and odds are that fish will come to the fly if it's in the vicinity.

 

Personally I like throwing streamers to the other bank, and stripping them directly cross current at a pretty good rate. I want that fly being perpendicular to flow. Shows the most of the fly to the fish, and definitely creates commitment on their end. You'll also move way quicker, and therefore show your fly to more fish. Don't 'trout strike' by lifting your rod tip, strip through and don't raise your rod till the fish is on.

 

It is getting a bit late for this type of streamer fishing, but you'll still have enough water temp until the rivers are closed that these fish will come to the fly.

[jgib01]

Thanks y'all. Much more productive day today, using a sink tip and chucking cross-river versus upstream.

[FraserN]

I have become exceptionally proficient at fishing streamers, but I have been doing it for over 25 years. It is by far the method I am most effective at. No matter what time of year or water conditions, I almost always get fish on streamers. I cast a long double haul across and quartering upstream, and immediately make a mend in the line. I get more hits on sinking line, but I also do well using floating line with the streamer just under the surface. The takes are mainly at the bottom of the swing, but can occur anywhere along the retrieve. I noticed this fall on the Bow, I was consistently getting trout on the swing, and others were having trouble getting any results at all. This means it boils down to technique and getting the proper action to make the streamer come alive in the water. That is where experience comes into play, many years and thousands of casts until it starts working for you. Also, it is important to have a good, fast action, stiff rod that can push out long casts into heavy wind all day long. I have always preferred rods like this, and they do well for streamers, but the drawback is that they are not soft enough for dry fly fishing as effectively as looser rods. I take the good with the bad, since I love streamer fishing and am good at it. Nymphs, on the other hand, I find much more difficult. Only recently have I been having success here after literally years of frustration. Like I stated before, fly fishing is difficult and requires a ton of practice and effort and persistence to be consistently successful. I hope you find this helpful.

[jtaylor]

I have become exceptionally proficient at fishing streamers, but I have been doing it for over 25 years. It is by far the method I am most effective at. No matter what time of year or water conditions, I almost always get fish on streamers. I cast a long double haul across and quartering upstream, and immediately make a mend in the line. I get more hits on sinking line, but I also do well using floating line with the streamer just under the surface. The takes are mainly at the bottom of the swing, but can occur anywhere along the retrieve. I noticed this fall on the Bow, I was consistently getting trout on the swing, and others were having trouble getting any results at all. This means it boils down to technique and getting the proper action to make the streamer come alive in the water. That is where experience comes into play, many years and thousands of casts until it starts working for you. Also, it is important to have a good, fast action, stiff rod that can push out long casts into heavy wind all day long. I have always preferred rods like this, and they do well for streamers, but the drawback is that they are not soft enough for dry fly fishing as effectively as looser rods. I take the good with the bad, since I love streamer fishing and am good at it. Nymphs, on the other hand, I find much more difficult. Only recently have I been having success here after literally years of frustration. Like I stated before, fly fishing is difficult and requires a ton of practice and effort and persistence to be consistently successful. I hope you find this helpful.

 

Bowflyman - do you find that action of the streamer is more important than the pattern?

[FraserN]

That is a bit of a tough question, jtaylor. Let me answer it this way. The pattern of streamer used is most important in this style of fishing. Even with the pattern, it can vary from day to day. For instance, one day a black wooly bugger in size 4 might be the ticket, but then another time, a size 8 olive/brown wooly bugger might be what the trout key on. I keep trying different patterns until I find the size and color that works on a given day. Having said this, the action imparted to the streamer: speed of retrieve, strip-stop cycles, ded drifts etc. are also very important. I know this because on several occasions, I have fished with less experienced fly fishermen, where we are both using the exact same pattern I tied for us. I catch fish, and the other guy doesn't. It is frustrating, especially when I tell people how good the Bow is, and they keep getting skunked when we go. So, obviously both pattern and action imparted are both important. It is a subtle thing that takes years of experience to learn. I think it was Jim Mclennan who said that the learning curve on the Bow is a slow one. I couldn't agree more.