Trout Streamers

[Henslo86]

I have recently heard that people are catching monster trophy trout in rivers with sinking head lines and BIG streamers (4-7 inches)-have you done any fishing for trout with streamers that are half a foot in length? if so, what are some of your favorites?

[Questor]

I use deceivers for purposes like that when I want a fly that sinks. Sometimes one that floats is really nice, like a Dahlberg Diver on a really short leader. Keeps it off the bottom. A lot depends on the body of water and current speed. Bigger isn't necessarily better if there's a large amount of small, rich forage around. It's nice to have some fly tying equipment along unless you have some definite leads about what patterns to use. I feel like a fool taking my box of fly tying stuff with me, but it's come in handy too often to leave it home.

[dahlberg]

Hi H,
It's been a standby of mine for years and years.
The first I remember was called a serpent fly and was made with long saddle hackles for a tail and a body of long soft palmered hackle. It had eyes for weight and was tied on a very short shank hook so it sank with a decidely head-down angle. That was in the mid-sixties. I think it was published in one of the major magazines.
The next one that really turned my crank was the rabbit strip matuka sculpin. In my opinion you can't beat a rabbit strip tail for sex appeal.

A rabbit strip diver fished with a sinking line can be made to work like a crank bait, actually bumping bottom. I've caught numerous 20#plus browns doing this, plus lots of rainbows.
If you taper the rabbit strip rather than use it in pre cut untapered strips, it casts a little better and you can get away with slightly larger flies.
When flies get over 6 or 7 inches, rabbit strips become impractical because of air resistance in casting.
For even larger flies, which are often the ticket for large predators like pike, pcocks and muskies, and for salmonids when they are competing for females, I use a combination big fly fiber and flashabou.
With it I can make 7"+ flies I can cast 100 feet with a 7 weight rod.
The trick to tying with big fly fiber is to stretch out the curly part by simply pulling on it hard while holding it between your fingers before you cut it, or tie it to the hook.
Yes, big streamers can be deadly, and there are many, many variations in designs and in the way they're fished. If I had to simplify it into a couple of categories it would be these:
1) Big, fast, flashy
2)Big, dark, intermitant bottom contact, speed variation from dead-drift to fast. Fish on the swing, also at steep angle upstream.
good luck,
L

[T.J. Estermyer]

olive divers work great on a short leader. especially if you use rabbit strips

[fishwood75]

I fished in Chile on the Rio Palena and we started out using what we thought were big streamers size 4's. Wooly bugggers and such and then while my buddy was landing a 16 inch rainbow out of the back of the boat I heard him yell 'Holy Bleep' and I turned around and saw what he was yelling about. A huge brown trout attacked the rainbow like it was a regular meal for him. The thing looked like a pike in the water and was probably over 36" long. Hard to tell in the water. I looked at my partner and said, 'We need bigger flies!' We were already using 8 wt rods with teeny full sinking lines. Luckily I brought my complete arsenal and had my saltwater flies. We immediately started casting size 2 and up clousers decievers and half and halfs. We both caught the biggest trout of our lives on that trip and I would have to say it was because we were using sinking lines and big flies. Until that trip I thought a twenty inch trout was a big fish. Even now in Pennsylvania I dedicate a certain amount of time fishing sink tips and big streamers when the river is up and muddy. I still like the finesse of dry fly fishing and the technical aspects of nymphing but theres something about throwing alot of meat out there and seeing what happens.

Patrick from Altoona