Many years ago, when I started fishing streamers for trout, I mostly learned by doing. I read Joe Brooks’s books, Kelly Galloup’s magazine articles, asked questions at fly-fishing shows, and talked to fly fishers who where having success fishing streamers, but then I just went to the water and fished — I spent many, many hours fishing. Then came the “Aha!” moment, the moment when everything clicked.
I was fishing at Hat Creek, just above the fish barrier, and I saw a large rainbow emerge from a shadow under the bank. The fish came out hard and turned fast, opened its mouth to eat something, and then quickly returned to cover. I stopped fishing and just watched that trout for more than an hour. It repeated the same behavior many times before it stopped.
The next day about the same time, I returned to the spot and watched the fish repeat its behavior a couple more times. I knew that the big trout was eating smaller fish — little rainbow or brown trout smolts. I rigged up a Type 2 sink-tip fly line with a short 5-foot leader made from an old dry-fly leader I had been fishing early that week. I tied on a silver Matuka and positioned myself just upstream from the undercut bank. When I made my first cast, the fly came close to the area into which the trout would emerge to eat. I let the fly complete its drift, then took one step downstream and carefully brought it up to cast. I didn’t want to spook the fish. On this second drift the fly swung a little deeper, and the big fish came out hard and ate it. I landed that rainbow a short time later. It was the first really big fish I landed on a streamer.
I went in to Burney to Vaughn’s Sporting Goods and did some horse trading for more streamer patterns. I landed several larger trout the rest of the week, all on streamers. Today, I still carry the silver Matuka in my streamer box. It’s a fly that brings back great memories.
Fish Food
Streamers represent a big meal for trout, but to fish them effectively, you need to understand the fishery and what forage fish are available to trout — whether there are also crayfish, tadpoles, and other large food items available in that fishery, in addition to smaller trout. These are the bait that you will typically represent with streamers:
Salmonid Alevins. When trout spawn, their eggs hatch into alevins — baby trout. Big trout eat little trout, and you should have flies that imitate these small fish. California’s Central Valley rivers, which is where I often fish, have salmon, steelhead, and trout alevins — a huge food source. I’ll usually fish alevin imitations near the surface.
Sculpins. Sculpins are present in pretty much every river and creek and thus serve as a food source for large trout. The main species in California waters are the riffle sculpin and the prickly sculpin. Both species can be found in the same water. The prickly sculpin has bigger fan fins and is usually the larger species. Sculpins will range from dark tannish brown to light and dark olive in color. Some will also show glints of gray, black, and gold. They all have a pale or white belly. It’s usually best to fish these near the bottom.
Crayfish and Tadpoles. Many anglers dismiss the importance of crayfish and tadpoles as food sources for trout. However, some of my biggest fish on Putah Creek have come from fishing a crayfish pattern. The trout typically key on the smaller crayfish that are molting or haven’t grown a hard shell yet. Trout will also eat tadpoles. They key on both food sources as they would on a seasonal insect hatch, targeting them until they are no longer are available.
Flies
For alevin patterns, I like my Lance’s Salmon Fry, size 4, and Mercer’s Sac Fry, size 6. For larger alevins, I like Milt’s Pond Smelt for a salmon fry imitation. I also like silver Matukas, size 6, Black Nose Dace, size 6, and Mickey Finns, size 4 and size 12, and for larger salmonid patterns, Galloup’s Zoo Keeper, size 4, and Barr’s Slumpbuster in natural silver squirrel, size 6.
For sculpins, simple imitations work: Woolly Buggers in olive, brown, or black, sizes 6 and 8, and Barr’s Slumpbuster in olive, black, or rust, size 6. These straightforward patterns will also imitate a tadpole. More complex sculpin imitations are Kelcey Derrick’s Pig Sticker in olive or brown, size 6/8 (tied on tandem hooks), Mason Derrick’s Supa Sculp in olive or brown, size 4, Mason Derrick’s Articulated Supa Sculp in olive or brown, size 4, Dan LeCount’s Stinger Sculpin in olive or brownish tan, size 4/10 (tied on tandem hooks), and Galloup’s Sex Dungeon in olive, size 4. I also have used steelhead flies to imitate sculpins, flies such as Pick Yer Pocket in olive and Stu’s Ostrich Mini Intruder by Aqua Flies in black/olive, size 4
For a crayfish imitation, I like Whitlock’s Soft-Shell Crayfish. This pattern, developed by Dave Whitlock years ago, is still the best crayfish fly I have ever fished. It can be tied in many color combinations and sizes. I fish a tannish orange version, size 6.
Equipment
A standard 9-foot to 10-foot 6weight rod is all you need to fish streamers for trout. I like using a sink-tip line or a floating line with a poly leader, usually one with an intermediate sink rate. When I want to go deeper, I add a heavier sinking leader to my sink-tip line. Tippets are simple: a 4-to-5-foot length of 0X to 3X fluorocarbon is ideal. I usually cinch it directly to the hook, but you can use a loop such as Lefty’s Loop Knot, which will allow the fly to move a little more naturally when underwater.
Streamer fishing doesn’t require lugging around a lot of gear. When fishing streamers, I carry a box of flies, a set of poly leaders with various sink rates, and a spool of 2X fluorocarbon tippet material. I don’t carry lead shot, indicators, or fly floatant. I already have my reel spooled with the sink-tip fly line, and I am ready to go.
Tactics
A variety of tactics can be used when streamer fishing for trout, and this is where streamer fishing gets a little tricky, because you must be able to read the water and choose the correct tactic to work there, and sometimes different tactics can be employed for the same water. Picking the correct fly and the correct leader, whether the latter is monofilament or an intermediate or faster sinker, also is crucial.
High-Sticking. “High-sticking” streamers is exactly the same tactic that fly fishers use while nymph fishing: basically, dead-drifting a weighted fly along the bottom under a taut line. It’s used in water that has at least a bit of depth: pocket water, a drop-off, a deep channel next to a shallow shoal. Because the streamer rather than the line is weighted, unweighted flies, like bucktails such as the Mickey Finn, are inappropriate. I also like flies that have lots of built-in movement, because when dead drifting, the fly still has life. End the drift with a swing. This is usually when the fish grabs.
Upstream. You can fish streamers by casting upstream and stripping the fly back to you. The stripped fly needs to be traveling faster than the current. This tactic imitates a fleeing fish and can be difficult to master. You can employ it in all types of water. In deep water, use a light fly with a heavier leader or a heavy fly on a lighter leader. In shallow water, use light flies and just the sink-tip line or an intermediate leader on a floating line. Fly choice is dictated by what is going on in the fishery — whether alevins, sculpins, or crayfish are what fish may be keying on.
Swinging. This is the most common streamer tactic. The trick is picking the right fly and right line, because as when fishing streamers upstream, you can fish many different combinations of line and leader. When swinging streamers, it is important to begin by running the fly close to a seam without casting over the seam and running the fly through it. Fish the streamer like a painter cutting in a room with a paint brush. You don’t want to spook the fish. That’s what I did in my “Aha!” moment on Hat Creek.
Fish that are feeding on alevins, sculpins, crayfish, or tadpoles are active, aggressive fish that are willing to come to a streamer. You should be aggressive and active, as well. Fish systematically, but don’t stand in one spot. Work down the river and switch tactics when needed. If you do that, you will have great success when streamer fishing.
Lance’s Salmon Fry
My salmon fry pattern is the result of adaptations from other salmon fry patterns. The basic pattern was first shown to me by the late Dave Simmons. Dave got it from a tyer named Steve Carrigan who lived in Paradise, California. I made it my own by tweaking it here and there. It can be swung, dead-drifted, or fished wet on a floating line. You really can’t go wrong. It’s easy to tie, durable, and hooks steelhead and trout solidly.
First debarb a Gamakatsu C14S hook or equivalent, size 4, and place a 1/8-inch black bead on the hook. Insert the hook into your vise and start gray Danville 6/0 thread behind the bead. Tie in a strand of large silver holographic Mylar tinsel behind the bead and tie it down to the bend of the hook. Wrap the tinsel forward and tie it off behind the bead. At this point, you can treat the silver tinsel with a UV coating for extra durability.
On the top of the hook behind the bead, tie in a small clump of gray Steve Farrar’s SLF Flash Blend. Cut the wing material to an inch and a half length and taper with scissors. Flip the fly over in the vise and tie in a bright orange Antron yarn strand. Form a loop with the yarn and tie off the yarn behind the bead. Whip finish the fly.
Epoxy the bead and the small thread head behind the bead with 24-hour epoxy, turning the fly on a drying wheel while it cures. You can paint eyes on the head or use stick-on eyes or 3-D eyes. I paint them on using brass rods in different diameters. The first color is a pearl-white base. The second is a black pupil. Using the same epoxy, I again cover the bead and thread head. This will seal the eyes and make the head very durable.
— Lance Gray
