When is the "right" time to throw streamers
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| Pink Cheech Leech - Seriously? |
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| Kemp Bug Variation |
When I first started fly fishing I was a nymph and bobber kind of guy - I was fairly limited in my approach when chasing trout. I would go to the same place, fish the same flies, and be content if I caught a few fish here and there. I knew that there was a lot of variety in flies, techniques, and places that I was missing out on, but I really didn't know where to start. Specifically, streamers baffled me for the longest time because I would hear that they should only be fished on particular water types, during particular weather, using particular lines, and using particular presentation methods... Wow. That was a lot to digest for a new fly fisher, and my immediate response was to just avoid streamers completely. I was still catching plenty of fish, but I was probably missing out on some good opportunities due to my intimidation on streamer fishing. My first experience with streamers was on my favorite taco sized Brookie stream near my home town. The fly was a Kemp Bug, and the fishing was insane. They ate it dead drifted, stripped, fished upstream, and fished downstream. There was no wrong way to fish this bug. I have since repeated that type of day while fishing much bigger flies, and realized that there were bigger fish in that river than I realized - another benefit of streamer fishing.
That day was enough to light a fire in me to start fishing streamers more. Specifically, I started throwing streamers at nonconventional times and had a lot of success with them. I had a recent trip to Idaho that will
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| Snake River Cutthroat meets Cheech Leech |
not be forgotten any time soon. We were told that the 12" to 16" Cutts in this stretch of water were VERY particular, and we would have to do a lot of work to find the right size and color of hopper that they were eating that day. What did I tie on first? the
Cheech Leech. Well, the ol' Cheech Leech didn't work very well that day, but the Mongrel Meat and
El Sculpito sure did. Our gracious host was more than blown away at the fact that these fish were eating such monstrosities,
and at the fact that we brought in several 20 inch fish. That streamer day in Idaho cemented in my mind the fact that any
day can be a streamer day.
~ Cheech
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| 24" Brown Trout on the Snot Goblin |
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I started off dry fly fishing - poorly but with occasional success. Nymphing was boring & I didn't have much success with streamers, either. Then, I decided to learn more about nymphing & become more well-rounded. I've gotten fairly good at it. Only this year did I really returned to streamers for trout. Early May I used a bugger in a section of riffles everyone blew by for the holes. Bingo bango! I landed about a 16" beautiful brown - good size for the stream. It's nice to expand the repertoire. Fly fishing for me continues to feel like a kid at Christmas. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteTwitch,
DeleteI completely agree with the learning aspect of fishing. I love to learn new things, or revert back to things that I haven't done for years.
Cheech
It's funny~ I started out swinging streamers, and rarely do I get the right water for good nymphing~ we have so much wood, it isn't the same. Tight lines!
ReplyDeleteKoz
Nice to know. Sometimes you just have to do whatever the fish make you do in order to catch fish. Sounds like you have some fun water to fish.
DeleteCheech
I've had mixed results with streamers. Maybe a follow up article could be on the when and why of certain patterns.
ReplyDeleteGood point. I'll keep this in mind this fall to see if I come up with anything that hasn't been covered.
DeleteCheech
GREAT article, Cheech! I hope it helps drive home the idea that the old "rules" of streamer fishing have been blown out the window THOUSANDS of times. There are no rules in streamer fishing.....except trout setting. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Boss...
Delete