Ask most fly fishers about big f lies, and they’ll probably tell you about their October Caddis dries, stonefly nymphs, or perhaps some sculpin imitations with weirdly pornographic names. Folks who fish lakes may show you some long, slinky leeches or Hexagenia patterns one might logically assume match a mayfly from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. But find a fly fisher who targets largemouth bass, striped bass, or northern pike, and they’ll likely pull out some flies that clearly wouldn’t fit into a standard fly box. Many of the flies will barely fit in your hand, and a few may even be too large for both hands.
This column is for anyone who is interested in exploring one of fly fishing’s wilder frontiers: flies that measure six inches or more in length. There are a number of tying styles that create these brutes, so perhaps it makes sense to classify them under a single name. Let’s just call them giants.
Reality Check
There are plenty of online videos showing folks catching big fish on giants. It looks exciting, and it certainly can be, but there are a few things you may want to consider before you decide to gear up and head out.
If you feel that you need to catch a lot of fish in order to have a worthwhile trip, giants probably aren’t going to be your cup of tea. These flies will filter out the smaller fish, which provide the majority of action on most waters. The number of large fish is always going to be a small fraction of the total population. You can tip things in your favor by knowing how and where to fish giants, but this is very rarely “a fish per cast” fishing.
Giants also probably aren’t a great match for the occasional fly fisher, either, someone who enjoys fly fishing, yet wets a line only a few times per year. Unless the few trips you make are for large fish such as largemouth bass, stripers, or pike, you’re better off sticking with more conventional forms of fly fishing.
Giants are best suited to folks who are looking to try something new and can handle a few hours without a hit. Think of it as a steroidally enhanced version of fishing minuscule flies on highly technical waters.
Types of Giants
While the selection pales by comparison to normal-sized streamers, there are a few giants on the market that do a good job imitating big prey. However, you’ll want to be familiar with the pros and cons of each design so you can make sure you have the right fly for the job. (Examples of the flies discussed in this section can easily be found online.)
Materials that work well with normal-sized streamers can be problematic when you scale up. Perhaps the most significant factor is wet weight. Materials such as rabbit strips and fine fibers like craft fur can make f lies that look great in the vise and move well underwater, but they tend to retain a lot of water. Casting them can be a miserable experience. Think carefully before you buy or tie a giant that uses these materials.
Air resistance is another factor you’ll want to consider. Bulky flies generate more aerodynamic drag and will therefore be harder to cast. There are three ways to address this problem. The simplest approach is to use a heavier line and matching rod. The extra momentum of the line helps offset the fly’s air resistance. A 10-weight rod and matching line are capable of throwing some seriously large flies, but not everyone wants to use such heavy gear.

If you don’t want to step up to a bigger rod and line, another option is to add mass to the fly. As long as you can cast the fly with the same speed, the extra mass will increase the fly’s momentum and help offset some of the air resistance. Mark Sedotti pioneered this approach with his weight-balanced Slammers. This fly was my introduction to giants, way back in the 1990s. Mark’s original design used big, webby schlappen hackles, but many folks who tie this fly now use a combination of yak hair and flashy synthetics. These flies use a lot of lead wire, so they’re not a great choice for shallow, weedy waters, though you may be able to get a version that incorporates foam to add some buoyancy.
The third option is to utilize lightweight fly-tying materials that create an illusion of bulk. Bob Popovic’s Hollow Fleye design exemplifies this concept. This pattern uses small bunches of flared bucktail to produce a body that looks big, but is mostly empty space. Most folks still use bucktail, though a few intrepid individuals have used synthetic fibers. As long as you don’t use a heavy wire hook, the Hollow Fleye pattern can be a good choice for shallower waters.
A more recent development in the world of giants is Blane Chocklett’s Game Changer. This design uses articulated shanks to create a pattern that swims with a sinusoidal motion. From a casting perspective, material selection isn’t too critical with small Game Changers, but once you start using giants, you may find materials that create the illusion of bulk are much easier to get airborne.
Perhaps the newest giant is the Livebait, which was featured in the January/ February 2022 “Catchy Ideas” column. This pattern uses sewn tulle mesh, creating an illusion of bulk with very little weight and virtually no water absorption.
Tail Taps
Most fish attack the front half of the fly, since large prey is generally easier to swallow that way. Because of this tendency, I like to use short-shanked hooks for my streamers, but this means I also experience times when a fish only tugs at the tail. It’s possible the fish is attempting to disable the prey before swallowing it headfirst, but that’s just a guess.
If you find yourself dealing with tail tappers, one solution is to use a giant tube fly. One of the reasons tube flies were invented was to deal with short strikes, so the concept is certainly appropriate for fishing giants. Tying flies on a long piece of tubing can be challenging, but is certainly doable. A more practical approach is to construct the f ly on several shorter pieces of tubing and stack them onto the tippet before tying on the hook. Lee Wulff actually came up with this idea many years ago.
One problem you may experience with giant tube flies is that a large hook can cause the fly to swim tail down. This is fine if you are imitating a giant seahorse, but isn’t how most baitfish move. If this is a problem, just superglue a piece of foam onto the shank of the hook. The foam should be large enough to make the hook barely float.
T-Bones
Another issue that might crop up is fish that grab the midsection of the fly, thus missing the hook, whether it is mounted in the front or the rear. One option to deal with this if you fish shortshanked streamers is to use a hybrid fly that combines the streamer with a tube fly (sans hook) slipped onto the tippet. I like to think of this as giving the streamer a wig. Depending on the relative size of the tube fly and streamer, this places the streamer’s hook point closer to the center of the fly, which increases the chances of connecting when a fish T-bones the fly. If you are using a Livebait fly, you can mount the hook at the very back of the Velcro strip, which places the hook point somewhere between a third to halfway down the body.
Rods for Giants
Do you have an 8-weight single-hander or 6-weight double-hander? If so, you have what you need to cast most giants. If I were pushed to recommend a rod, I’d suggest a medium-fast action, but it’s not that important. Use whatever you’ve got. The rod is unlikely to be a critical element when fishing most giants.
Lines for Giants
Several manufacturers sell lines specifically designed for big flies, and these are definitely the way to go. Unlike conventional fly lines, they feature a steep front taper and a relatively short, heavy belly. The belly helps control the fly during casting and shooting line, and the front taper helps ensure the leader turns over at the end of the cast. Examples include Scientific Anglers’s Titan and RIO’s Predator lines.
While there are occasions when a floating line may be the best arrangement, most of the time, intermediate and sinking lines are the way to go. For single-hand rods, just select a line with the same rating as the rod. There currently are no lines marketed specifically for casting big flies on double-handers. Fortunately, the single-hand versions work fine if you get one that is three weights over the rod rating. A 10-weight line should work well with a 7-weight double-hander.

Leaders and Tippets
Several companies make leaders for big flies, and they can sometimes be helpful, but most of the time, 4 to 6 feet of 20-pound-test medium-stiff copolymer does the job. These stiffer materials usually require more force to seat the knot properly, so make sure you fully lubricate them and carefully cinch them down.
Casting Giants
There’s no shortage of information on fly casting in print and online. Most of this covers casting normal-sized flies, but a few articles and videos are specifically aimed at helping folks cast big flies. Unfortunately, most of them assume you are already a proficient caster. Thankfully, there are videos with information that can help pretty much anybody who wants to cast big flies.
If you use a single-handed rod, type “Lefty Kreh in Slow Motion” into YouTube, and you should see a short video of Lefty taken by Gordon Judd. Lefty wasn’t casting a big fly in the video, but the side casting stroke he demonstrates is almost perfect for delivering giants. This style of casting provides several advantages. You can easily watch the line and fly throughout the casting stroke, which really helps dial in timing and tracking. It also keeps the fly well away from your body, reducing the chances of getting stung. In addition, the elbow is well below the shoulder, which significantly reduces the risk of tweaking your rotator cuff.
While this may sound ridiculous, casting giants is more about precision than power. Two things help create precision casts. The first requirement is that your line and fly travel in a straight line. Try to visualize a laser beam that starts at the end of the line as you begin the forward cast and continues out over the water in front of you. The closer your fly line matches the path of the imaginary laser, the better the cast will be. One thing that really helps generate a straight-line path is uniform acceleration throughout the casting stroke. The term “uniform acceleration,” while seemingly straightforward to understand, can be a little tougher to implement. The best way I know to achieve this is to use your thumb pad as a pressure sensor. The pressure on your thumb pad should feel the same throughout the cast. Notice that sensation while you watch the line and you’ll get things dialed in soon enough.
The second requirement is that the line forms a narrow loop as it leaves the rod tip and carries your fly over the water. You want the top leg (which goes to the fly) and the bottom leg of the line to be separated by no more than three feet. Take a look at Lefty’s video, and you’ll notice that his wrist moves through a short arc at the end of the back and forward casts. This arc and the abrupt stop that follows are what forms a tight loop. If you want to fish giants on double-handed rods, you should probably forget about Spey-style casts with their “splash-and-go” or “waterborne” anchors. If you get everything absolutely right, you might just be able to pull a lightly tied six-inch fly from the water, but weight and surface tension are going to make anything larger a nonstarter. Casting with an overhead style is the best approach. If you aren’t familiar with casting double-handers this way, check out Tim Rajeff’s “Casting Tips — Boost Beach Fundamentals” on YouTube. Tim demonstrates an overhead cast that is slightly sidearm and takes full advantage of the entire rod.
Regardless of whether you use a single-hander or a double-hander, don’t make the common mistake of assuming you need to muscle the cast to get any distance, since all that does is screw up the tracking and acceleration. Concentrate on the casting fundamentals, and you’ll be surprised how far your giant will fly.
Fly Action
Giants, by virtue of their size and weight distribution, are likely to respond differently to various types of retrieve. Spend a couple of minutes observing your fly in the water, and you’ll likely find a retrieve with a certain speed or cadence that induces the most body action. This optimum-action retrieve may change, depending on whether the f ly is moving through still water or fast currents or when it is fished on lines with different densities. Don’t overlook the value of no retrieve when the fly is in areas with complex currents, such as you’ll often find behind boulders or along current seams or surf-zone rips. These currents will move the fly around, giving it the appearance of a fish that is feeding and oblivious to predators. You can also take advantage of a no-retrieve technique with a wetfly swing. Some judicious mending can make the fly hover in certain spots, which can elicit jolting strikes. I’ve had surf stripers hit the fly at full speed while I let it hang in the current. Folks with experience swinging streamers for steelhead or large trout can have an absolute ball with this technique.
Even though it has been almost thirty years since Mark Sedotti introduced his Slammer, there is still a lot to be learned about fishing giants While we have access to a number of good patterns, there’s no denying the selection is pretty slender compared with what you can tie or buy for almost every other form of fly fishing. How and when to fish these flies is also a subject that could benefit from creative effort by talented anglers. Perhaps that will be you.