Learning how to fly fish is definitely a challenge but it's a fun challenge! In this video I teach you how to streamer fish by going over 5 things I wish I knew when I started fly fishing that would make me abetter angler today.
My 5 things are: 1. Work the streamer with your rod, not the line. This one seems to be something that everybody struggles with at first, and I’m not saying it’s always the best option. But to truly get the swimming motion on a streamer it’s almost always necessary to do more than just monotonously strip the streamer in. Also don’t be afford to introduce slack when you work in the streamer… this will allow the streamer swim back and forth and give the materials in the fly a chance to breath. 2. Weighted fly line is only good for certain scenarios. If you’re fishing a large river from a boat or need to get the streamer down deep in some fast current then sinking line works well. BUT in most scenarios, especially in smaller rivers and creeks out east, sinking line does little more than force your streamer into a certain direction and get stuck on the bottom of the river. Floating line, or something like a mono rig, allows you to manipulate the direction of the streamer which in turn allows you to trigger more strikes. 3. Leaders. For streamer fishing you want a short leader for not only castability, but also for when those fish inevitably follow almost to your rod tip. For most of my streamer fishing I’ll use just straight 12 to 20 pound floro with a lighter section of 10-16 pound floro maybe a foot from the streamer. Most of my leaders for streamer fishing sit between 3 and 6 feet depending on water clarity with the longer leaders being used in clearer water. But my golden rule is to never use less than 10 pound test or 2x tippet, and rarely will I even go that low. If you’re brand new to streamer fishing Cortland makes a streamer leader that is shorter and works amazingly well. 4. Streamer Size and weight: a general rule of thumb is the lighter a streamer the better the action is. A completely weightless sluggo or double deceiver on sinking line looks so incredible you’ll think your streamer is a fish, but it’s tough to use those in a lot of scenarios. A jig streamer can get down quickly and hit undercut banks like a champion, but they can be tough to cast and have a jigging motion rather than a swimming motion. Then there’s the middle ground, which is usually where I find myself. A good example of the middle ground is the sex dungeon. It’s light enough that it has a good swimming motion if worked correctly, but heavy enough to sink even with floating line because of the dumbbell eyes. These types of streamers are downright deadly and are where a majority of my big fish have come from. 5. Streamer color: The general rule of thumb is the lighter or clearer the water is, the lighter the streamer color, and the darker or muddier the water is, the darker the streamer color. That may seem a little counter intuitive but you’ll have to trust me. And if the water is clear go natural and match the hatch. Matching the hatch is as simple as doing some research on what sort of bait fish are in your river system… and then simply choose a streamer color that closely resembles that fish. I find that tan and olive usually work the best because I’m usually trying to imitate chubs or suckers. If the water is off-colored I’ll go to black or some darker streamer color like brown. And usually my last ditch effort, if nothing seems to be working or the fish seem hesitant, is to pick up something really bright. White can sometimes work well because when fish start to die they lose their color, and become lighter. So light tan, white, pink, and other bright colors can induce a take when other’s may not.
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