Streamer Fishing: How to Decide What Flies to Fish

Streamer Fishing:

How to Decide What Flies to Fish

by Capt. Chuck Hawkins, Hawkins Outfitters

Years ago, at the beginning of a couple of weeks of fishing in Patagonia, the head guide asked me if all of my party’s anglers were from Michigan. I replied yes. He said outstanding because you guys know how to throw streamers. That method produces the biggest fish!

A big reason that Michigan anglers are so good with streamers is necessity. A large portion of our waters are so log strewn that fishing with nymphs isn’t practical. We strip streamers instead. In 1999, Kelly Galloup and Bob Linsenman published the book “Modern Streamer Tactics for Trophy Trout.” It upped the game for the average angler. While guides have always known that streamers produce bigger trout on average, most anglers were still throwing black woolly buggers. Most of the time on floating lines! The book made fast action rods and sinking or sink tip lines more of the norm.

The growth in streamer fishing in the last twenty years has fueled an explosion in streamer patterns. Galloup’s Zoo Cougar, Maddin’s Circus Peanut, my Nutcracker, and many other innovative patterns have been created. Some of the trends that I’ve noticed are ever-increasing sizes, much more lifelike movement, and synthetics. All of these great new streamers are making selection more complicated.

While the big fly, big fish scenario has some validity, it’s more important to match the available food sources’ size than to just go big. Bryan Burroughs, executive director of Michigan Trout Unlimited, told me years ago that when shocking rivers, he noticed that most trout food fishes were three to three-and-a-half inches long. I always have a good number of patterns in that size range.

When you get to the river and string up your rod, what streamer do you start with? Depending on what river and what stretch you’re on, you could be imitating sculpins, gobies, darters, shiners, lamprey, or a bunch of other things. Start with color. Is the sky bright or cloudy? The old bright day, bright fly theory has some merit, though I often, if I have two anglers, begin with one light and one dark pattern. I also generally have one sculpin/goby pattern and one baitfish fly. I also use my history on that water. For instance, the Upper Manistee River on a cloudy day requires at least one fly to be olive and white, generally a Nutcracker. I have different leading color preferences on other rivers.

The next consideration is location at that time of

year. If I’m on a river in spring that had a salmon run the previous fall, I will cast an alevin or smelt pattern. There are huge numbers of these little morsels available, and the trout gorge on them. Another hatch matching type event is when the lampreys pop out of the mud. When I start seeing lampreys on trout, several different leech type patterns get put to work. In spring, I utilize sculpin patterns with a black or dark head because the male sculpins change to that color when spawning. Also, in waters that get planted, resident fish take advantage of that food source, and you should too! I’ve always believed that if you get to a piece of water that you’ve never been to and have little or no information about, the food sources match the bottom color. Many of the prey species like sculpins use camouflage as their first line of defense against predators. Also, matching water color can be effective if it’s off-color. Also, you should consider your desired result. Are you a swing for the fences angler and willing to go fishless in pursuit of trophies? If so, access to a proper boat is going to help you cover water. It is also much easier to fish a sinking line from a boat. If you are wading, it is more difficult because the line sinks while you’re stripping. A stripping basket can help you out with that problem. You can also swing streamers in some sections of our rivers Chuck Hawkins’s Southern Charm.

with success. That way you aren’t retrieving the line. If you just want to catch something, generally smaller flies will produce more looks and bites. Remember, a fish that attacks a streamer is making an aggressive move. If that attack is at something large, it takes that much more aggression.

The other component in streamer fishing is your retrieve—how are you animating the fly? I often guide anglers who strip the line with a consistent cadence. That’s not what happens in nature. Both gobies and sculpins can only swim short distances with bursts of speed. So your retrieve should be short and jerky with inconsistent pauses. Some patterns perform very well when stripped very quickly—Russ Maddin’s Flash Monkey, for instance.

We are lucky to have a lot of information available to us. The book mentioned above, “Modern Streamer Tactics for Trophy Trout,” plus the updated second volume, has great information about streamer fishing. A new book by Kevin Feenstra, “Matching Baitfish,” does a remarkable job outlining the various prey fish available to resident and migratory trout. I highly recommend both these books; they will make you a better angler.

The pandemic has caused most of the pros in the business to do some online fly tying classes to keep their customers engaged. Get involved with as many of those as you can. You’ll learn new patterns and how and where to fish them.

Finally, I can tell you from personal experience, don’t let yourself get into a rut. Try new patterns, retrieve different ways, and hit new water. Good Luck!

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