Streamers : What are the main triggers ?

[Scythe]

Hi Guys,

As I have been tying and fishing a lot of streamers and things recently I have been thinking about what actually contributes to the success of a streamer pattern seeing as a black wooly bugger looks nothing like any of the baitfish on the Vaal or in the Streams and yet it seems to be one of the most successful streamers ever.

I have narrowed it down to the following basic choices and would like to know what you consider to be the most important triggers in your streamer patterns and why.

[dlampert]

Hi Scythe,

You don't specify species although in your case I presume you are targetting LM yellows. I also would have allowed multiple selections in your poll. My comments relate to trout although I have caught SM Yellows, LM Yellows and barbel on streamers. It also varies between stocked and wild fish and whether you are fishing for them in a river or stillwater. The size and frequency of fishing of the stillwater also play a role as does the time of day and time of year.

To me the most important feature of fishing a streamer is the retrieve. Two guys can be fishing the identical pattern to the same fish and one guy will be catching and the other not. As to which retrieve is best, it depends on the mood of the fish - anything from static to very fast. I will usually start off slow and then increase the speed if I have had no interest.

As for patterns, most important would be movement (material) then size and colour. I find wild fish in general prefer natural colours whereas stockies can often be tempted with weird colours. I don't use a lot of flash in streamers but find that a silver tinsel rib can improve the catch rate when using woolly buggers.

Nowdays I often fish a fritz instead of a woolly bugger and can't say I have noticed a difference in catch rate. The fritz is quicker to tie which is appealing to me.

Regards,
Darryl

[Nymph+O-]

Natural movement is probably the single most important factor in all forms of flies or artificial lures - How many times have you seen a trout for example stalking your dry fly, holding just below it and once you give it a bit of a twitch the trout undoubtedly nails it!

[LeRoy]

I vote movement. If I had to decide what it was about my flies that won me the most fish it would be effective motion imitation. But then, 99% of my fly fishing is done targeting bass. Then again, if I was forced to choose between two identical streamers, one with and one without eyes, I'd pick the one with eyes everytime. Eyes have been enormously succesful triggers for me. The most inconsistant trigger IMHO, is flash. Sometimes the fish just want the fly to shine like the sun, other times just a hint of flash will send them hurrying for cover. For these reasons, my streamers (mostly woolly bugger, zonker, fritz and clouser variants/hybrids) must have lively materials like marabou, fox fur or bucktail (depending on how much movement I want), and I will carry most patterns in versions with and without eyes (mostly with) and with variable amounts of flash. I am very slow to completely eliminate flash, though.
Thanks for the interresting thread, Scythe. I believe just about all of the variables you mentioned in the poll can have a substantial effect on your day's streamer fishing. The trout, yellowfish and saltwater dudes could very well be on a completely different track than the one I find myself on. I'm all ears..

Cheers..

[Scythe]

Howdy Darryl,

You don't specify species although in your case I presume you are targetting LM yellows. I also would have allowed multiple selections in your poll.

Yeah, am not referring to specifically LM or big SM, I'm talking anything that will eat a streamer (ie : be piscivorous) Troot, Bass, Carp and Barbel included though admittedly I tend to fish more for LargeMouth than say Troot.

Things like retrieve, fly selection on the day based on environment and knowing the water you're fishing discounted, I'm trying to get to the heart of the decision making process for most guys ito what goes into designing and building an 'effective' streamer (at least while AT the vice) entails.

Your answer however is insightfull as always, thanks.

[dlampert]

Things like retrieve, fly selection on the day based on environment and knowing the water you're fishing discounted, I'm trying to get to the heart of the decision making process for most guys ito what goes into designing and building an 'effective' streamer (at least while AT the vice) entails.

In that case just tie a black beadhead woolly bugger with silver tinsel ribbing and no flash in the tail. If I had to fish to survive on rivers or stillwaters anywhere in the world this is the fly I would use Failing that I guess I would just dig out a couple of earthworms

Regards,
Darryl

[harry]

I reckon the following all work as triggers

-colour and translucency in balance
-prominent eyes
-a flashtail to suggest fins and movement
-a good swimming action
-noise/vibration
-suggestion of blood/gills

[Chris Shelton]

To me the most important feature of fishing a streamer is the retrieve.

I second that.

My eye was wiped one day by a youngster who proceeded catch 5 decent rainbows in a row with a short-strip retrieve (at breakneck speed) using a Mickey Finn. My slower retrieve with a soft hackled fly produced one fish in the same space of time time. We were standing side by side. Fortunately it does not always work, and thank goodness for that because I would hate to have to fish like that.

[Arthur]

I second that.

My eye was wiped one day by a youngster who proceeded catch 5 decent rainbows in a row with a short-strip retrieve (at breakneck speed) using a Mickey Finn. My slower retrieve with a soft hackled fly produced one fish in the same space of time time. We were standing side by side. Fortunately it does not always work, and thank goodness for that because I would hate to have to fish like that.

A big streamer with a really fast retrieve has saved me on a few occassions.
However I would not fish like this all day and would certainly not resort to a double hand strip a la salt water style!

I found woolly buggers are not ideal for fast retrieves as they seem to twist the leader too much.Zonkers are better suited for this purpose.

[LeRoy]

I second that.

My eye was wiped one day by a youngster who proceeded catch 5 decent rainbows in a row with a short-strip retrieve (at breakneck speed) using a Mickey Finn. My slower retrieve with a soft hackled fly produced one fish in the same space of time time. We were standing side by side. Fortunately it does not always work, and thank goodness for that because I would hate to have to fish like that.

Hehe. On my recent trip to Jonkershoek, it didn't seem to really matter what fly I used. The only thing, however, that would have those stockies even look at my fly, was that exact retrieve you speak of. Just under the surface, pushing a nice little wake. The trout would chase it down and bust it hard. So, lack of experience acknowledged, ITO of trout and streamers, I found the retrieve to be the most important factor. That will be 2c that I now owe Chris..