Streamer Profiles

[lethfisher]

Was out throwing streamers with the spey rod yesterday and noticed that my fly that I had tied looked a lot like a snake when in the flowing water. The material collapsed around the hook shank that looked fairly sizeable in the vice. Any tips on tying trout streamers to hold a solid profile when in flowing water? I'm thinking an intruder type of situation?

 

Also would like to move away from rabbit strips as they can get difficult to cast, is there a synthetic that is similar?

 

End goal of all this is to have a 3-4" streamer that holds is profile, pushes a lot of water, easy to cast, but is slightly heavier than neutrally buoyant so the sink tip and cast angle will dictate the depth.

 

Thanks! Info, materials, or patterns are appreciated

[SilverDoctor]

If you tie a "ball" of dubbing behind the front hackle of your intruder, it will force it out and make the fly look bulkier.

[muha]

You could palmer some schlapen up to the eye, then make a dubbing loop and spin some polar hair, you can throw in some arctic fox guard hairs in the mix as well. This will give you a nice bait fish profile once you comb it back. Pushes plenty of water and moves like natural Fibre. It does not get waterlogged like rabbit.

 

 

[Guest bigdirty]

Muha, any pics/links of a fly built like that?

[muha]

I'll post some when I get home.

 

hope this helps.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jayhad]

muha has it, palmer schlappin. I will use two or three feathers if I want more "body" and sometimes I will palmer it backwards as I feel the fibres don't fold over as easily in water

[Guest bigdirty]

Nice looking streamers!

 

thanks for posting

[Guest bigdirty]

a different approach, probably the opposite of what your looking for Lethfisher.

 

[SilverDoctor]

and this

 

[lethfisher]

Those are excellent looking streamers! I like the palmered schlappen look. I'll try out the dub ball for sure to get some extra flair. SilverDoc, the stinger is great on that one, very sparse looking fly that won't get waterlogged. Does it retain profile in the water? Are you using the dubbing ball behind what looks like marabou to keep it flared? Thanks for the input!

[SilverDoctor]

Those are excellent looking streamers! I like the palmered schlappen look. I'll try out the dub ball for sure to get some extra flair. SilverDoc, the stinger is great on that one, very sparse looking fly that won't get waterlogged. Does it retain profile in the water? Are you using the dubbing ball behind what looks like marabou to keep it flared? Thanks for the input!

You need to be sparse to have the Intruder sink quickly but with a large silhouette. I like a large dubbing ball using a dubbing loop with material like seal, polar bear, arctic fox etc. Think of it as propping up an umbrella.

[lethfisher]

Just a follow up after a few hours at the vise. Tied a black and white version.

 

Black

- barbless octopus hook as a stinger

- black EP fibre

- polar chenille

- black marabou

- red/orange EP fibre spun in a dub loop

- cone head for a little weight

 

White

- same as black except the tail is super hair instead of EP and some white ice dub

 

 

 

 

they seem to hold their teardrop shape fairly well in the water which is what I wanted. Marabou is very light and EP/super hair is meant more for salt flies which don't hold water much when casting, sweeeeeet.

[Guest bigdirty]

looking good!

[muha]

EP is a little stiff, polar hair (coarse not the Super fine stuff). Material is a lot more mobile and has some taper to it, where EP is same diameter. For salt water it works, for fresh water you have to tie hollow technique to get the most out of EP, and sparse.

 

Nice ties!

 

Get a velcro patch to comb out and form EP. Comb out your dubbing loop before you wind it on. Good rule of thumb for eP is to use half or 1/3 of what you actually think you need.

 

I would personally omit ep from patterns like intruder, it's is better used for over wing streamers.

 

 

[lethfisher]

Here's a pic of it in flowing water. Must have worked as it fooled two fish