Streamers On The Bow

[Crogg]

I've been fishing streamers on the Bow either wading or on the bank with no luck. I've landed a few swinging nymphs, but no luck with streamers. I have been using the same technique as nymphing, (cast 45 upstream, mend, dread drift and swing, and strip towards the bank). I've caught many with streamers on the drift boat so I know the technique from the boat. I've been using 2-3" green or black Clousers, and Bow river buggers on a floating line with a big hunk of split shot, on a 6 wt. 8lb mono, about 4-5 ft leader. Am I using the right technique? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks in adavance.

[SanJuanWorm]

Don't mend with streamers. Let you loop face down stream directly opposite the way you'd nymph. When the river pulls the line it puts some action on teh streamer. Most of my fish are caught on the swing with streamers. End of your drift strip it in a few times as many fish will follow your streamer to the end of the drift.

 

PS: HANG ON IF YOU GET A HIT.

[OneMoreLastCast]

Another thing to try is to cast patterns like Leeches, Bow Buggers, Bunny's, etc. Up stream and let them sink to the bottom. Then with medium sized strips, bring it back just a bit faster than the current. This is effective in cold weather when the fish are deep, or in hotter weather when the fish are deep and lazy.

 

Try casting a Clouser 45 degrees upstream and strip it back fast without letting it swing downstream at all. I like to start at the bottom of a run and do this, working my way up through the run. Hold on though, because the takes are very aggressive and you will often get snapped off on the take.

You can also use this technique by casting directly upstream along the bank in water that looks "Brownie". As soon as it hits the water, start stripping it downstream fast.

My favorite place to use this is while drifting. Cast to the banks and rip it back to the boat. The fish are often so focused on your streamer that they will almost run into the side of the boat.

There are a few nice side channels that this technique works well on where you can cast across to the other bank and strip it back to you.

 

One thing though, the clouser will not be too deep, so you will be able to see the chase and take most of the time. Although this can be very exciting, it can also cause you to miss a lot of fish. Don't ever slow down the strip, keep stripping at the same pace that got the fish interested in the first place and don't set the hook too soon. This is usually the case because adrenelin takes over and you pull the hook out of the fish's mouth. Most of the time, you don't have to set the hook because it sets itself.

My favorite color for the clousers I use are Yellow/Red/Black and White/Red/Black both with flash and fairly bushy compared to the traditional Clouser patterns. I also use bigger eyes than usual, "I-Ballz". I'm told they discontinued the "I-Ballz" which is a shame, but if it's true, luckily I picked up the last 8 bags of them I saw at the store... So I should be okay for awhile.

 

Good luck

[Hawgstoppah]

Vary your retrieve a LOT when bank fishing streamers. Some times I use a quick retreive that work amazingly well. It's a hard pull - pull - pull - pause - pull - pull - pull - pause - pull - pull - pause - pull - pull - pull - pause.... just vary between two or three pulls then pause... and make the 2 or 3 pulls VERY rapidly. That can really trigger the fish. (Kicks bully's arses too)

 

For winter on non agressive fish... add enough weight so that you can feel your whole rig bouncing the bottom and then...try to find a long bank, fairly flat run, and do what I call my "two step" streamer fishing. Step one, cast as far as you can... step two.. TAKE a step. Swing, let line tighten straight behind you (you gotta be standing in 2-3ft of water to make this really work)... and give two hard quick pulls at the end, then pause for about 5 seconds. Pickup, repeat whole process. Takes about 20 minutes to work a run really well... and if there's a fish you'll entice it.

 

As for flies. I really like Ollive myself. Olive with red eyes works very very good for me. I think a touch of read near the head area of your pattern is a good good thing. Looks like a minnow with flaring gills (tired or crippled)

[JDee]

Hey this topic reminded me of something I've noticed about streamers that I wanted to ask about..

 

I dont know if it's just me or not, but everytime I go to tie on a streamer to a smaller leader it usually snaps. Is this just me??

No problems if I'm tying on some thicker tippet, but if I try to go straight to the thin part of the leader...BOOM!

 

any tips?

 

: )

[Brownstone]

Hey this topic reminded me of something I've noticed about streamers that I wanted to ask about..

 

I dont know if it's just me or not, but everytime I go to tie on a streamer to a smaller leader it usually snaps. Is this just me??

No problems if I'm tying on some thicker tippet, but if I try to go straight to the thin part of the leader...BOOM!

 

any tips?

 

: )

 

 

Probably caused by the gauge of the hook the streamer is tied on. The thicker the hook the more difficult it is for a clinch knot(I assume thats what you using) to close up and tighten. Try using a differnt knot to fasten your streamers like a Palomar, and use heavier tippet. When i swing stremers i use 10 lb and still have had snap off's on the strike.

[Guest bigbadbrent]

i've broken 20 lb on big bullies on the strike..man was i pissed, guess that's what i get for using a clinch

[Rick]

I normally spend most days wading upstream. At the end of the day I often put on a couple of streamers and wade downstream back to the vehicle. I normally cast about 45 degrees down towards the bank or any place that looks like a likely holding spot. I start the retrieve as soon as the flies hit the water and I only strip them back 10 to 15 feet then cast again. I'm pretty much walking steady although slowly the whole time. You do get some great hook-ups and you can often move fish that you missed coming upstream. Lots of fun chucking streamers. I should say this method is suited to rivers like the Crow. I couldn't hit the far bank on the Bow for sure and I am far more careful where my feet are going wading the Bow. Rick.

[toolman]

I'll try and add to the discussion without repeating what's already been posted. First I would suggest you look at different leader options for the different types of water structure and conditions you are fishing. Polyleaders are excellent for streamer fishing at all depths of the water column, from the surface film to the stream bottom.

DC Sinking Polyleaders eliminate the need for extra weight on the fly or leader when fishing sub surface, which allows the use of unweighted flys that will swim differently than heavily weighted flys on a mono leader.

I usually swing streamers down and across, but I throw an upstream mend to control the speed/depth of the swing for the conditions I am fishing. I often use the downstream current speed as a guide and try to swing at approximately the same speed across stream, as the current is flowing downstream. At times the trout want a faster presentation, at other times slower. I usually start swinging on the surface to get everyones attention and then work deeper if the trout are reluctant to come up to the top.

I would also suggest learning about the different baitfish that live in the river, that are important trout food. Then you will understand what type/size/color of streamer to use and how to make a natural presentation that will get the trouts interest.

A few bait fish found in our streams and rivers in South/Central Alberta would include...

Long Nose Dace

Pearl Dace

Northern Red Belly Dace

Spottail Shiners

Spoonhead Sculpins

Fathead Minnows

Brook Stickleback

Trout, Sucker and Whitefish Fry

And don't forget about Leeches.

Good Luck and keep working on it.

 

Here is a good link with information/photos of these baitfish: Freshwater Fishes of Canada

http://www.fishbase.org/Country/CountryRes...roup=freshwater

[maxwell]

sculpin sculpin sculpin! suckers dace and fry are killer too, bow buggers, clousers and double bunnies. wooly buggers are killer leech imitations in black brown or olive........i do alot of sping and dangle type stuff like TM commented..at night in muddy water or over cast days i usually strip streamers....remeber your looking for predators and aggressive fish. most trout are inactive or stuck in the middle (hunkered down eating nymphs emergers etc...) so streamers are never a big numbers thing for me im just looking for the beasts...goodluck and keep it simple dude

[SilverDoctor]

Just to add a bit to all the excellent posts here. I'm also big on trying to imitate the bait fish on the water. look in the shallows for what is on a stretch of water. Remember baitfish grow. Start with smaller imitations early in the year and size up as the fish grow. I love to target underwater boulders and other areas a predictor may hang.

 

Streamers generally fall into two categories, imitators and attractors. When streamers and also bucktails were designed to imitate baitfish, such as black nose dace, creek chubs and smelt. Today and you will find plenty of impressionistic patterns such as Zonkers and Woolly Buggers rather than imitations of natural forage fish. At times it's nice to go to the classics for a great imitations. Impressionistic patterns tend to have trout strike by aggression or as a territorial response.

 

The way I tend to fish streamers is my imitating a small baitfish out of it's shallow area. I like to swim it in a couple of short quick jerks then pause in a safe spot like small fish would then zip to another spot. Sometimes a small split shot 4" ahead of the streamer will make say a muddier or bugger swim with an erratic pulse. Be the minnow. With the spey rod I love to zip a minnow combo behind large submerged boulders way out. I try to throw a mend so the streamer pauses for a few seconds before the water pulls it across. What you want is to give the trout a good broadside look at the fly.

 

You can keep the fly swimming broadside, across the current, through the entire drift by casting slack line and mending until the fly completes its swing. It is possible to cast quartering upstream with an upstream reach cast and keep the fly drifting broadside by mending upstream until the fly starts to pass downstream of your position. Start mending line downstream when the fly passes below. Keep mending line away from the fly until it comes to rest directly below. Let it hang in the current for a few moments before picking it up as trout will sometimes follow the streamer though the drift and hit after it stops. Make sure to keep enough belly in the line to keep the fly swimming. Mend enough to keep the line tight, but not slack. You can control the speed of the fly by the amount of mend you put in the line. Flick the tip of the rod through the drift to tease the fly. Vary the action according to the type of fly you are using.

 

Fishing an undercut bank can be deadly. The trick is to get the fly to swim along the bank instead casting directly across and retrieving the streamer away from the bank. Make the cast directly across but use a wide reach cast, mending as much line as possible in the air before the line hits the water. This will put the line at a right angle downstream from the fly. Tease the fly as it swims downstream along the bank, keeping tension as the current pulls against the belly of the line.

 

Take trout from a slow deep pool by casting upstream and retrieve the fly back down. The fly must swim slightly faster than the current with action and strips. Dart the streamer ahead and pause to dive toward the bottom. Sulking trout will turn and lunge downstream to attack the streamer when fished in this way. The downstream retrieve is a great method for sculpin imitations, which which need to fished near the bottom to be effective. Sculpins try to take the path of least resistance when threatened, which is downstream.

 

Trout feed in different ways. When trout hit a streamer they aren't sipping it like a mayfly or nipping it like a nymph but they often try to kill it with a quick smash to stun the prey then a take. I often have a brown do a double hit. This double hit is really fast and may often seem like one strike.

 

Remember that the streamer hook is long. It acts as a leaver and you can loose a fish easily by the fly levering out of the fishes mouth. Keep that tension on, and keep that hook sharp. I will sharpen a streamer two or three times with a small ceramic sharpener while fishing especially if I feel bottom, weeds or just because.

 

Fishing streamers is actually more complicated than it seems. It tends to have a lot of subtle variations that can make or break a presentation, strike and battle. But it's a lot of fun.

 

By the way Toolman have you had a chance ot ry that little bug eyed "Doc's Dodger" streamer yet?