If you want the biggest fish in the river, tie on a streamer. Where dries and nymphs imitate insects, streamers imitate baitfish, sculpins and crayfish, the substantial prey that big, predatory trout, especially brown trout, are looking for. It is active, aggressive fishing, and the eats can be violent.
When to throw one
Streamer fishing shines in higher, stained water, low light, and the fall when big browns get aggressive before the spawn. Overcast days, dawn and dusk, and the period after a rain bumps the river up are all prime, that is when big fish drop their caution and hunt.
How to fish streamers
- Cast to cover. Target undercut banks, log jams, boulders and deep pool heads, the ambush spots big trout hold in.
- Strip it back with a jerky, erratic retrieve that imitates a fleeing or wounded baitfish, vary the speed and add pauses until you find what triggers eats.
- Swing and jig in current, cast across, let the fly swing through the run on a tight line, and let it drop and dart on the hang-down.
- Strip-set. When a fish eats, set by pulling with the line hand, not by lifting the rod, so you drive the hook home and stay tight for another shot if it misses.
Tip Do not be afraid to move the fly fast and even pull it away from a following fish, a big trout chasing a streamer often commits when the prey looks like it is escaping. Speeding up on a follow triggers more eats than slowing down.
Gear
Scale up a bit from your dry-fly rig: a 5- to 7-weight, a floating line for shallow work or a sink-tip to get down in fast or deep water, a short stout leader, and a box of streamers, Clousers, woolly buggers and sculpin patterns among them, in a few sizes and colors.