16 days 'til Roscoe

Hendricksons , Quill Gordons, Blue Quills, Red Quills, Caddis, Streamers

$0.50 (or s0) flies

Fishing Streamers - "the spin fishing of fly fishing"

Cut off your normal tippet and tie on 3X tippet or a leader tapering down to 2X or 3X. Stick with a 5-, 6- or 7-weight outfit because the extra weight will overpower a lesser weight rod. Keep your leaders short, four to seven feet long, nine feet at the most.

Casting: Start by slowing down your delivery, pace your stroke, open up a bit

"toss out your big fly in a general area, let it sink a second, then strip in the big fly in varying degrees of speed and delays. The keys are finding the right depth and getting the optimum retrieval speed."

Some think you should always fish streamers downstream while others believe that doing so spooks the fish. Others believe anglers should always plop streamers across and upstream to get the best drift. Which is best? Both work.

There is some legitimacy to the idea that downstream fishing leads to pulling the hook out of the fish's mouth but not often enough to make me worry about it. I have caught plenty of fish, trout and smallmouth, by casting straight across from me, slightly downstream, then swinging the fly through the pool.

You will need a reel or spool loaded with a sink-tip or sinking line. I like a 7-weight or even an 8-weight with sinking lines.

When to Fish Streamers: You probably know the standard situations when streamers work best: In the spring, during high water, if you see no rises, and in the absence of hatches. But there are many other situations ideal for fishing streamers. Here are a few:
When temperatures are cold
When fishing deep pools, dropoffs and ledges
When fishing undercut banks
When covering a lot of water quickly
When searching a lake
When you are after big fish
When you need to get down to fish holding deep
When you need to reach fish holding under limbs
and other obstructions
When you are fishing runs, riffles and trenches
When you have long stretches of pocket water
with lots of boulders
When fish are feeding but on bottom nymphing
On overcast days, rainy days, early and late,
in dirty water and right after rain

Tips and Strategies: Mix things up from time to time by keeping your rod tip high or varying it by keeping your rod tip lower, angling off to the side. Vary your retrieve speed. Vary the amount of line you strip in on each retrieve. Mend the line from time to time and the streamer will hesitate, stop. Most of the time you want the fly to sink so wait a few seconds; but every now and again, if things are slow, strip it in once it hits the water. When you cast with bigger flies or more weight (split shot), remember to open your cast a little bit so you don't hook yourself in the head. A roll cast is effective to get the fly back out to the lie. Sometimes you will see a fish follow the fly. Leave it out there, pick up your rod tip and let it back down. Strip short at the end but leave it out there and then pick it up quickly and cast it right back in front of the fish.