Ian & Charity Rutter
Townsend, Tennesssee
(866) SMOKY-FLY

Streamer fishing is easily the most successful method for hooking larger trout on a fly rod, but it is also the least employed by fly fishers. Over the years we can look back on the most exciting moments we’ve had on rivers and streams in the Smoky Mountain region, and many of them were when a streamer was tied on our leader. In fact, we’ve practiced the following methods in an array of locations; everywhere from the tumbling streams of the Smokies to big tailwaters like the Clinch and South Holston here in Tennessee to the swift, brawling waters of the Madison and Yellowstone Rivers in Montana. Furthermore, we’ve found these methods also ring true with smallmouth bass and striped bass. In spite of dramatic differences in fly tackle, these same techniques have proven deadly on redfish, snook, tarpon, jacks, and other saltwater species that have seen our flies. While these methods will prove effective on your home waters, expect them to work in other locations as well.

Just as nymph fishing differs from dry fly fishing, streamer fishing has its own set of peculiarities to consider. While it’s not entirely necessary to have a completely separate outfit for streamers, there are some equipment considerations. First and most important is your leader. You should use a relatively short and heavy leader to fish streamers. This helps to turn over bulky flies and lessens the chance of breaking off a heavy fish. A leader should be no longer than 7 1/2’ in length and no lighter than 3X. We consider a 6’ 2X leader to be pretty standard. Sink tip or full sink lines aren’t a necessity, but will often improve your odds. These specialty fly lines will get your fly deep which is extremely valuable in swift water or off color water. This also ensures that your fly will get down to where the carnivores live and keep it there. While a fly reel does no different work than any other style of fishing, you might consider a second spool for your sink tip or sinking line. The size fly rod you use will depend mostly on the size of the water you will be fishing. A pretty standard 5 weight fly rod will work well on mountain streams and a 4 weight will even work on smaller streams. Move to a heavier rod for bigger rivers. A 6 weight or 7 weight is a smart choice for big streamers on big rivers.

Streamers in Creeks and Streams

Streamer fishing on mountain streams like those in Great Smoky Mountains National Park requires very little specialized gear outside of the proper leader and fly. However, timing is a critical consideration. The best times to try a streamer in creeks and streams is when the water is high, off color, or both. Large trout are essentially ambush predators and feel more comfortable moving around in the open when the water is high or when they know they can move under the cover of stained water. High water can make large trout somewhat easier to find than during “ideal” fishing conditions. Assume that the largest fish live in the largest pools on a stream. They will often lay up in a back eddy or slow side current when river levels are high. You can also fish pockets in the stream much the same way as tight lining nymphs. The only difference from nymphing is that you should hop the fly up and down through the drift when fishing a streamer. In fact, this is easier than tight line nymphing since the strike is far more obvious.

Sometimes fish will flash the fly but not take it immediately. The best thing to do in this situation is to twitch the fly upstream past the point where you believe the fish is, then let it fall back a few inches to a few feet before twitching it back up. Continue this process up and down the lie and there is a good chance the fish will reappear. This method works best when the water is stained and visibility is limited. This allows you to position yourself upstream and work the fly just downstream of yourself.

Heavy flies with dumbbell eyes, coneheads, or other weights are essential for two reasons. First it will get the fly deep. Second it can provide for a “dipsy doodle” type of action where the streamer flutters up and down with each strip. While the fly should stay down, be sure to keep it moving, either by stripping line or swinging it across the current. Some of our favorite streamer flies are Clouser Minnow, Conehead Zuddler, Double Bunny, and Woolly Bugger. Brown, olive, black, and white are all good colors. We tend toward white more than the other colors since we can see it more clearly. As a result we often see fish following. Smaller sizes will attract more fish, but larger flies will attract the largest specimens. Sizes #2-6 are best for headhunting the big carnivorous browns on creeks and streams, but #8-10 will draw more strikes from smaller, average size fish. This is an important guideline to follow depending on the size trout that are available.

Streamers on Large Rivers & Tailwaters

Streamer fishing takes on a completely new dimension when practiced from the pitching deck of a drift boat gliding down a large river with swift current. While small streamers cast on a light rod with a floating line will hook fish, a stout fly rod with a sinking line and a BIG fly will bring up the big boys. A stiff 6 or 7 weight fly rod with a quick sink line are almost a necessity to penetrate deep water with swift current. Leaders should be about 4-5’ long and 0X-2X strong. We always use flies that are at least #2 – 4 and bulky. In fact, we’ll occasionally use articulated flies; that is two flies joined together to create one long, jointed fly with two hooks. These can be clumsy to cast on a heavy rod and downright difficult on a lighter rod.

Fishing these big flies on a big river is more fast paced than fishing creeks and streams. The name of the game is to cover the water so you’ll be casting and retrieving the fly at rapid fire pace. There are three main things to cast at: cover, cover, and cover. Look for cut banks, fallen timber, rock ledges, boulders, deep slots in the river bottom, and even shadows. All of these are places where a large trout will lie in ambush. Also be sure to cast to calm water. Large trout will often lay up in dead spots where they can take it easy but spring into action if an opportunity presents itself.

The retrieve is an extremely important component to success. Almost as soon as the fly hits the water you should begin your retrieve. Strip your line erratically, mixing long strips with short strips, but always strip line fast. Keep your rod tip low. We usually keep our rod tip in the water. This ensures that every twitch you make translates into action on the fly. If you have several feet of fly line above the water it will collect some slack and dampen the action on the fly. Holding your rod tip high can also lift the fly toward the surface which pulls it out of the strike zone.

Try to time your cast and retrieve so that the fly has adequate time to sink and you can strip the fly past the most attractive lies. For instance, don’t cast the fly right to a log in the river. Instead, cast the fly upstream and slightly beyond. Now retrieve the fly toward the log, allowing it to sink to depth. Really pick up the pace as the fly approaches the point where a trout should be. The closer the fly swims to the place where a trout is, the better the chance he will eat it. Sometimes big trout will really cover some ground to eat a fly, but more often they prefer to make a quick strike that requires very little on their part.

It’s not unusual to see a lot of fish follow the fly. Many anglers will instinctively slow their retrieve in an attempt to allow the pursuing trout to catch the fly. However, this is the exact wrong thing to do. Just imagine yourself as a small fish tooling down the river. Out of the shadows comes a hook jawed brown trout that looks like it escaped from Jurassic Park. What would you do? Would you roll over and say “You got me”? Just like anything in else in nature you would try to get away as fast as you could. If a fish approaches the fly you should make it move faster as if it’s trying to get away. This reinforces the idea in the trout’s mind that this is real food. Even though your streamer may be chartreuse and white with pearlescent flash, a color scheme not commonly found in nature, it is behaving just the same as other large prey items that run from predators. Conversely, think of animals in nature that do flop over when attacked. Possums are one such animal that plays dead to defend itself. Remember, don’t play possum! Run away to entice the strike. If you only have a short amount of line left in your retrieve or the fly is already close to the boat try to manipulate the fly with only the rod tip and make short jerks that will maximize action while minimizing the amount of distance covered.

One last mistake that is often seen in this type of fishing is the hook set. Rather than raising your rod tip high as you would with a dry fly strike, you should keep the rod tip low. The best hook set is a combination of a strip strike while sweeping the rod to the side. The fish and fly are often several feet deep and some strikes will be short as the fish only grabs the tail of the fly. If you raise the rod tip you will pull the fly out of the strike zone and very likely out of the water. However, if the fish short strikes but the fly continues along at depth there is an excellent chance the fish will continue the pursuit, often times hitting the fly much harder and taking it much better than it did the first time. Again, the fish often thinks the prey has just escaped the jaws of death and is dead set on nailing this energetic morsel. One last reason to continue stripping the line is because the fish may come at the fly so fast he will actually overcome you. The fish may be moving at you faster than you are stripping at the moment of the take so for that reason it’s important to continue stripping line. This is one instance when you will not feel the strike in spite of a vicious take.

Streamer fishing isn’t for everyone but it’s a lot of fun. There are very few days when you’ll catch vast numbers of fish. This is best thought of as working for quality rather than quantity. You’ll probably get more flashes and follows than actual takes. Hooking big fish is always a sketchy proposition so expect to lose some of the fish that you do hook. Just remember that persistence pays and have fun in the process.