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Posts tagged "streamer fishing"

Seductive Streamer Fishing

Posted by Ted Kraimer - December 9, 2012

Seductive Streamer Fishing Brown Trout Success IThe days of casting a large streamer to the bank and stripping it back aggressively with fish attacking in territorial response are diminishing.  Sure, fish still move into the shallows of low light and stained water, and even play our game some days. But years of angler conditioning has some of the larger fish a little smarter, or laying a little deeper, and often in more structure.

Always adaptive, we now fish with heavier lines and have developed even larger flies — heavily weighted and often accessorized like a Dallas Trophy Wife. While effective, this extension of trophy streamer fishing often goes beyond some anglers’ abilities and/or preference to fish. Considering there are more days when conditions include clear water and plenty of daylight, it pays to have an alternative approach — “Seductive Streamer Fishing.”

Tournament Bass Fishing and Trout Fly Fishers

There seems to be a dichotomy between the fly fisher and bass angler, but yet, the two have so much in common. The fly angler can learn a lot from the guys in the glitter boats, since they often have more at stake when fishing in large-purse tournaments and gathering sponsorships. They simply can’t afford not to catch fish.

Seductive Streamer Fishing - Bass Angler Crossover

Chris Sausman, sales rep for Shimano & G. Loomis,
applies his bass fishing skills to fly fishing trout.

If you have watched fishing shows on TV you have seen where large, flashy spinner baits (think big streamers) catch aggressive and often big fish. But if you have watched enough programs, specifically tournament coverage, it’s the plastic bait presentation (worms, tubes, grubs,  salamanders, etc.) that seems to be the bread-winner time and time again. Why? When conditions change or when fishing pressured water, having a kinder, gentler presentation is effective, especially when fish aren’t aggressively feeding.

How often do you get to the river after a cold-front moves in, when an east wind is present, water temperatures have dropped, or  when “sterile ditch syndrome”  sets in — when the fish are simply in an ornery mood, and you aren’t even sure there are any fish? Adapt your streamer presentation to get fish to eat despite these conditions.

Seductive  Presentation

Seductive Streamer - Target Rich

Pull fish from cover with subtle but seductive retrieves.

If you have ever watched a runway model move down the platform, you know they aren’t running, but rather walking and “working-it,” often seductively to garner attention and a desired reaction. The angler’s finesse of a twitch, the drop of the presentation, the erratic flutter and motion of plastics tends to seduce fish to eat, even when not in a feeding mood. Why?  Because it looks natural and is easy to pounce on without having to chase it.

This is where seductively presenting a streamer, slowly, thoroughly and with a lot of movement and action in and around structure or other likely holding water brings fish to the net – even when the heavy-handed approach of big flies can comes up short.

Presentation and Fly Tips For Seductive Streamer Fishing

Seductive Streamer Fishing - Lighter Lines II

Use lighter density & shorter sink-tips or floating lines.

Use lighter Line. Presenting these flies on lighter, shorter sink-tips helps keep they fly from going immediately to the bottom and allows you to dance, twitch and otherwise flutter the fly. Readjust and fish specific portions of the water rather than trying to cover as much water as possible.

Get jiggy with it.  When fishing shallower and/or log-infested water, I often fish a floating line with a bead-headed fly and longer leader (9-plus ft.). When accompanied by thoughtful mending of the line, this keeps the presentation vertical — moving up and down the water column (like a jig), as opposed to streaking across the river (fast moving spinner bait). The floating line option is also a great approach for anglers wading and switching back and forth between dry flies and streamers. Just remember to tie your streamer on with a little stronger tippet as the structure and size of the fish typically demand it.

Seductive Streamer - Flies with Weight

Fish flies of various weights and sizes
with lots of movement.

Work it. Often the flies fished on lighter sink-tips and floating lines are visible, so you can watch your fly and manipulate it by mends, rod-hops and short-strips. Work the fly as needed and pay attention to how the fish react. When you find something that works, continue that approach, and if a fish is following the fly but not eating, try small variances in your retrieve/strip to elicit the strike. This isn’t much different from the saltwater angler presenting to fish on the flats — “check” often results in “check-mate,” but it takes two to play that game. You want to be the one with the upper hand.

Don’t forget the middle. Depth and structure can be found in the center of the river, so be sure to swim a fly broadside and dance it through these overlooked  areas. Not only does the center of the river hold fish, but most anglers are programmed to only cast to the banks, leaving many of these fish unpressured and uneducated.

Seductive Streamer - Fish The Middle

This fish was caught in the middle of the river.

Go Slow in cold water. As water temperatures cool in the fall and remain cold throughout winter, fish are often lethargic and almost hibernating state. The slow moving fly that stays in their zone longer and looks inviting tends to be more successful than the quickly stripped streamer.  If you are going to serve them up something big to eat, make it easy for them.

Fish natural to flashy. Flies for this type of streamer fishing can vary from realistic patterns of a natural food sources, to suggestive patterns of multiple food sources, or to something bright and attractive that aggravates the fish. My go-to strategy is usually to imitate the natural food source first. Then, if not overly successful, go to something a little more provocative. lethargic and almost hibernating state. The slow moving fly that stays in their zone longer and looks inviting tends to be more successful than the quickly stripped streamer.  If you are going to serve them up something big to eat, make it easy for them.

Seductive Streamer - Motion Enhanced Streamer

Weighted flies with materials like rubber legs
or marabou help provide a lot of action.

Use flies with lots of action. Using a fly that incorporates materials with inherit action and motion is key.  Rubber legs, marabou, flashabou, soft hackle, bunny-bou strips, schlappen, wispy synthetics and countless other appropriate materials make fly tying limitless in design possibilities. Consider taking your favorite big-ass trophy streamer and down-sizing it. A well-stocked fly shop should offer non-tiers a variety of streamers to fit your needs.

Use weight.  Seek out the weighted patterns that incorporate cones, beads or dumbbell eyes. The jigging motion created by weight combined with the current’s force on action-packed materials is deadly. Having a few flies with tungsten weights incorporated can really help to get a fly down if necessary.

Seductive Streamer Brown Trout Success II

Add worm weights.  Take a page out of the bass fisherman’s playbook – add seductive lift and drop motion to the retrieve by using sinkers designed for fishing plastics. Slide on the line and let the sinker either rest above the fly (put a small plastic bead between it and the knot), or peg it to the line with a toothpick above the fly for even more action. The larger the weight, the more difficult the casting — seek the lighter 1/32 and 1/16 oz sizes.

Lighten up. You can still use the larger rods associated with streamer fishing, but the smaller flies don’t require power. The need to be more responsive and deliberate with the presentation often is easier with a lighter rod – 5 and 6 weights are ideal.

Change it up. Some days big streamers fished on heavy lines is really effective, but suddenly it can stop working. After your rotation of favorite patterns fails to turn the good fishing back on, adjust your tackle and implement the seductive streamer technique. You might find the fish are still on the bite, just not as aggressive as they were earlier.

Seductive Streamer Fishing Stillwater

Use these techniques for more fish than trout.

Fish stillwater. Use this approach when fishing stillwater – for more than just trout or even bass. Fish are fish, and the versatile, adaptive and observant angler is usually successful. Adding significant action near structure can result in takes for the same reason the plastics angler catches bass  — it stays close and looks tempting.

With streamer fishing really becoming more commonplace the past 10 years, it seems the fish have taken note of those big flies and have become less participatory. When faced with clear conditions and/or cold water, alter your approach. Adjust your tackle and target specific waters to work fish out of structure when they aren’t aggressively feeding. Slowly and seductively moving your fly in likely fish holding water can mean the difference between possibly catching an aggressive fish or just catching fish.

More tips for streamer fishing »

bass, current works guide service, fly fishing, fly pattern, manistee, presenting a streamer, streamer fishing, traverse city fly fishing guide, trophy streamer fishing, trout

Early June Fly Fishing – Lots Going On

Posted by Ted Kraimer - June 7, 2012

After last weekend’s rain, river levels are full and returning to normal levels.  The Upper  Manistee is in good shape, the Lower Manistee is still on the high side with an ideal stain, the Boardman is running full and the Au Sable is back to normal. The flush of water made for good streamer fishing and with the forecast heat, the dry fly fishing should ramp up after a cool period with very sporadic hatches.

Look for Isonychias to build in numbers as well as a mix of other bugs including: Brown Drakes, March Browns, the last of the Sulphurs, Yellow/Golden Stone Flies (#10), Bat Flies and Mahoganies. When the days are hot and temps stay warm into dark, look for the hatches to be condensed into a short window  near dusk.  In other words, bring your headlamp and walk back to the car in the dark after fishing until dark. Because of our mild winter, warm March and otherwise odd weather this Spring – the timing and predictability of hatches has been off. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a few hex and gray drake patterns in your box should this warm weather inspire a few bugs to show up early.

{A few years ago I wrote an article pertaining to trout fishing in the weeks leading up to the Hex hatch – you can read it by clicking here.}

Carp fishing on the bay has been very mixed as the fish haven’t been nearly as predictable as they normally are this time of year. With a few fish showing signs of spawning the past few days, look for this warm weather to ramp up fish numbers and spawning activity in the shallow flats. Plan to cover a lot of ground to find fish willing to play along and be armed with the usual patterns: hex nymphs, crayfish, Clouser minnows and b.h. black wooly buggers. While the carp fishing hasn’t been up to par, the smallmouth bass fishing has been solid with small minnow/baitfish patterns working well.

Bass and Bluegill fishing  continues on the smaller lakes  and with a lot of the spawning done, males protecting nests have brought aggressive behavior  as well as from the females looking to eat, too. Look for deeper breaks and drop offs to produce the bigger bluegills/panfish. The popper fishing has improved however the small streamer and nymph/dry combo has been most effective mostly because it allows us to fish deeper water.

Good Luck,

Ted

– Upcoming Fishing Seasons –

 Trout: Fishing with streamers and dries. Don’t forget the Big Bugs – Drakes, Isonychias and Hex.
Carp and Smallmouth Bass on Grand Traverse Bays – find out why this has become a favorite of many anglers.
Terrestrials & Trico hatches in the Months of July & August – start your mornings off on a cool, quiet trout stream.
Booking for all 2012 Seasons – Some Fall Salmon and Steelhead Dates Remain Open

ausable, bass, bat flies, boardman, brown drakes, fly fishing, grand traverse bay, hatches, hex, hex hatch, manistee, manistee river, smallmouth bass, streamer fishing

Another Week

Posted by Ted Kraimer - May 23, 2012

Not much has changed from last week’s report other than river clarity has become a major issue – the rivers are running very, very clear and there is virtually no rain in the forecast – stealth and lighter tippet/leader is pretty much a necessity.

The Manistee, AuSable and Boardman are all running low and clear making it easy for the fish to see bugs on the surface, when they are out. Dry fly fishing has been mixed with lots of bugs to chose from but often at odd times. Look for Sulphurs, March Browns, Mahoganies, and caddis to continue and with all this heat in the forecast – have some Brown Drakes in your box . These warmer evenings should make for consistent evening hatches and spinner falls.

Streamer fishing has been tough with water low and clear, but is still a good way to get some of the bigger fish to come out and play. Look for low light times of the day or the rare, cloudy day to provide the best opportunity for success. There hasn’t  been a secret fly working better than another lately – mix them up and fish them closer and deeper to wood than normal – be prepared to lose some flies, but also have better luck.

The ponds and lakes are really warming up and so is the fishing. Bass and bluegill continue to build in numbers and provide good fishing  for the fly angler. Small nymphs suspended under poppers or buoyant dry flies make for a great duo and a small weighted streamer cast on a long leader can provoke aggressiveness from even the most discerning bluegill. Bass are coming up and eating poppers from time to time while the streamer and nymph fishing seems to be more effective.

Grand Traverse Bay – east and west, are warming up with all of this sun and the carp and smallmouth have taken notice. Numbers of smallmouth bass have increased as they go into spawning mode and feed in the shallows while the carp are a little more selective on water temperature and can be fickle on when and where you can find them. Often when you find them there will be a lot of them. Pay real close attention to water temps affected by wind direction and overnight temperatures to select the best places to fish. Crayfish and hex nymphs are working on both species and additionally minnow patterns for the smallies.

Be safe this weekend, share the water and bring bug spray. Good luck!
Ted

– Upcoming Fishing Seasons –

May & June: Trout fishing with streamers and dries. Don’t forget the Big Bugs – Drakes, Isonychias and Hex in June.
June: Carp on Grand Traverse Bays – find out why this has become the favorite early Summer fishing of so many.
Booking for all 2012 Seasons – Some Fall Dates Remain Open

ausable, brown drakes, carp, fly fishing, grand traverse bay, hatches, manistee, smallmouth bass, streamer fishing

Steelhead and Trout Limbo/Combo

Posted by Ted Kraimer - April 18, 2012

We finally received some rain, but with the ground so dry, most of it went there rather than into our rivers having little impact on river levels and the much anticipated re-start of the Spring Steelhead run.

Some fresh  fish continue to trickle in on the Manistee, but not as many as there typically is for this time of year. Look for the fish to be on the spawning gravel with a number of dark, males accompanying the female doing her thing. With the clear water conditions, be prepared to be stealthy and go light with line and flies – the males are becoming cranky and are taking leeches and fry patterns pretty good as they are fending for their territory.  Other flies that have been working include small (#10 and 12) and realistic egg patterns, caddis and stones – not much new here. Targeting drop-back steelhead remains decent as the fish are putting their feed bag back on after a few weeks of not eating as they head back to the lake.

The trout fishing below Tippy dam is picking up for those targeting the dark water with nymphs where as streamer anglers  working the cover are finding some better fish – mostly when the sun isn’t high and bright. The trout have been planted below the dam so you might have to increase your streamer size a bit to keep the stockers off your line to help with their survival and success rate. Look for conditions to improve as warmer weather sets in with warmer water and more aquatic life making for a good combo approach – steelhead in the morning and trout in the afternoon.. With the stocked fish in the river, consider fishing a big fly pattern like the Fin Clip to emulate the “natural” food source of some really big trout – it’s not a numbers thing, but the fish you get tend to be big.

Trout fishing on the Upper Manistee is pretty good for those who hit the right day – that’s when it’s warm enough for bugs to emerge or when the shade offers ideal streamer fishing as the water is still quite clear. Hendricksons have been emerging in the afternoons on the warmer days and the fish are starting to expect them. Be sure to have some stone flies and BWO in your box, too.

Good Luck!

Ted

The Spring Newsletter just went out – click here to read.

– Book a Trip for the Upcoming Fishing Seasons –

April: Steelhead and Trout fishing on the Manistee River
April-May: Trout – Streamers & Dry Flies. Hendricksons & Early Bug Hatches on the Upper Manistee
June: Trout -Big Dry Flies – Drakes, Isonychias and The Hex.
Booking for all 2012 Seasons – Some Fall Dates Remain Open

fin clip, hendrickson hatch, late spring steelhead, manistee, streamer fishing, tippy dam, trout, upper-manistee

“Well, We’re Waiting”

Posted by Ted Kraimer - April 13, 2012

A classic quote from the movie Caddy Shack comes to mind as we wait for some rain to inspire the remainder of the steelhead to move upstream. While we have had some rain and some snow, no significant amount has fallen and the steelhead run remains stagnate, stale and otherwise unprecedented. The forecast is calling for some this weekend and the lack of hot days has pretty much put water temps in check with normal readings for this time of year. Surf/Pier fishing reports indicate that fish are there -also waiting.

There are some steelhead in the Manistee and other area rivers with spawning taking place as water temps hover around 50 degrees. By no means are there as many fish around as there typically is this time of year but still some are around. As a few fresh females slip in, they are quickly attended to by dark males looking to do their part. With water clarity a little too good right now, they are pretty easy to see. Look for more respondent fish to be in the darker slots and holes near the bright gravel and cover a lot of water. Drop-back steelhead continue to play the game as they head back to the lake making for some spirited fights since their minds are back to eating and not spawning. Smaller, natural looking egg flies in smaller sizes are choice as are smaller nymphs like caddis, stones and fry when fishing near the gravel and hex, fry, buggers and leeches are working in the runs.

Trout fishing is well under way on the Upper Manistee with some hendricksons, bwos and black stone flies emerging as the day gets warmer in the afternoons. Water clarity is dramatically clear so stealth goes a long way with the fish being in all sorts of water – not just bunkered in the deep, woody holes. Streamer fishing smaller streamers with slower retrieves is working well with the cold water temps, but be prepared to mix it up if you aren’t getting the results you are looking for. Shaded water should demand your attention, but don’t overlook featureless water. Look for the bugs to continue to build in density with time and warmer conditions – it’s sure is a good to see trout rising again.

Good luck!

Ted

drop-back steelhead, hendickson hatch, manistee, steelhead, streamer fishing
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