Streamers

[nickt]

i am by no means a pro at streamer fishing. As a result i have actually kind of scared myself away from it for the most part beause of my technique and lack of catching fish. I never really know if i am deep enough. i am trying various methods such as a sink tip and floating line with some weight. what would you guys suggest for the bow this time of year. full sink, sink tip or full float?

[Crogg]

Not a pro by any means. I've been told when water conditions are low, use floating line and sink tip when the water is higher. I find bombing the banks from a drift boat with a sink tip to be very effective when the water is high and murky.

You could also try dead drifting steamers when wading...

[rusty]

Water's really low right now, so I'm using a full floating line and a longish (say 10') leader with a weighted fly and a big split right at the head of the fly. The floating line is way easier to mend with and is easy to cast.

 

Technique-wise, don't worry so much about it. Get the fly out there, get a good upstream mend in there, and then mix it up until you find what works. You'll know you're getting down by watching the end of the line and feeling the line. Sometimes you can strip the whole time, sometimes you can slowly take long strips, and sometimes you can just throw a bunch of line behind the fly and mend as you swing the fly across the current. Whatever you do, let the fly come to a full stop below you and then strip it a bit. I often retrieve until I can see the fly - you would be amazed how often a fish will track the fly all the way in and follow it right to your feet before inhaling the fly.

 

One key thing to learn is to avoid the instinct to raise the rod when you get a hit. I like to pull with my line hand - that way if a fish misses the fly, it's only 12" away and they'll usually come back for it. Once the fish is hooked, you can lift the rod - but doing it on the hit will pull the fly away from a lot of fish (especially on a tight line).

 

I find streamers work well when it's cloudy or cold and often both. If you want to learn to streamer fish and gain some confidence in it, make the committment. Leave the nymph box at the car or check your watch and give yourself 3 hours to fish them. It's a very rare day on the Bow when you can't pick up a fish or two on a monster Bow River Bugger or a well-placed Clouser. Experiment with retrieves and different water types.

 

This fish below chased the fly right to the bank before taking it - when he finally hit the fly, he was in water barely as deep as he was.

[maxwell]

damn russ getting good with this post........... BINGO!

 

only real thing i can add is instread of splitshot ive bin using a variety of sinktips from intermediate, sink and fastsink........ most flyshops are carrying them now. use a loop too loop flyline-sinktip donnection and same with your mono or fluoro leader.. if your not getting down or your too deep u can switch em out in a heartbeat.....