Friday fishing foto - Streamers and Brook Trout

It's worth it

I was guiding the other day, and my client was fishing streamers on a spring creek. The visibility in the water was three feet or so, relatively clear for a spring creek. We could see the streamer moving through the water as he fished it. We could also see the fish chase it and strike it. I’m not saying it was as good as a fish eating a dry fly, but it was close, damn close. I told my client that, like dry fly fishing, you had to concentrate on not yanking the fly away from the fish. Easier said than done. If you’ve been there, you know of what I speak.

He asked if I ever fished streamers for brook trout. And I responded, “yup, and funny you should ask, the shop has a new Untangled video out “How to Streamer Fish for Brook Trout.”

Brian makes a few points worth highlighting.

• Brookies are aggressive and will definitely eat a streamer especially when there isn’t a lot of food in the water

• Size matters, 3x tippet and size 8 or 10 streamers are the way to go. Be sure to mash down your barbs

• Using an indicator helps track a fast-moving streamer, nymph or soft hackle. You have a better chance of seeing a take

• Vary your retrieves and mends

Not all days are dry fly days…

There is no question that fishing dry flies to rising fish is a prime motivation for fishing our glorious mountain streams. When it’s happening, it’s hard to beat for excitement.

When rising fish are a few and far between or the section of the stream you are fishing doesn’t lend itself to drifting a dry fly, a streamer can be a welcome option, especially in the clear water of mountain streams. Seeing a big brookie chase and eat a streamer is a thrill.

Some water is better than other

I’m guilty of passing water by. There are plenty of reasons I’ve done it and still do it. The most common being I want to spend time in the prime water or sections I know. Often that water I pass by is prime streamer territory and worth spending some time fishing it. If I have the time, I’ll give it a try and see if a can entice fish or two to come out and play.

Here’s where a tippet ring can come in handy. Most of the time the ring is tied into the leader at a point one or two sizes thicker than the terminal tippet.¹ If I’m fishing a dry and want to fish a streamer, I can snip off the dry at the ring, tie in a streamer with 3x and fish it. When I want to fish the dry, all I have to do is clinch knot it back on to the ring.

1. For example, the ring would be tied in at the of the 3x section with 3x, 4x or 5x tied in from there.