Streamer Fly Fishing. Streamer flies are large flies intended to imitate bait fish. Since bait fish make a substantial portion of the diet of a big trout, these flies are effective when fishing for trophy trout in large bodies of water.
Streamers are presented in much the same way as smaller wet flies and nymphs. They can be worked upstream, downstream, or cross-current. A variety of retrieves can be effective at different times.
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You can strip, jerk, twitch, pull, stop and go, or even skitter a streamer across the surface. Many fly fisherman prefer to use a sinking fly line to keep the streamer in the deeper strike zones.
However, as long as the leader sinks, a floating fly line will suffice for many occasions, when using a trout streamer.
Streamer Fly Fishing Tips
Interestingly, trout will often flash or roll over a streamer without actually striking the fly as was previously noted with nymphs. If this happens several times, take a break for a moment and retie, forming a shorter, 6 to 12 inch dropper leader off of the main leader. Attach a smaller dry fly or even a nymph to the dropper.
Often, the large-scale silhouette of the streamer will draw the trout out to investigate. As it makes an investigative pass at the larger offering, it simply cant resist the smaller tidbit moving just ahead. This double rig has the appearance of a minnow (the streamer) chasing a smaller bug (the dry fly). It can be a deadly combination.
