Bucktail Fishing Lures

bucktail fishing lures

Fly Fishing – How To Fish Streamers by Ian Hugh Scott

Over 90% of a fish’s diet comes from subsurface aquatic food. Although dry fly fishing is a lot of fun when the fish are rising to the surface, learning to effectively fish other patterns will also bring you fun and satisfaction. Streamers are an important type of fly pattern that can be very effective when you fish them correctly.

But first, what are streamers? For the beginner fly angler, there are a number of different terms that can be confusing. Streamers have nothing to do with streams, but rather are a category of flies. There are five general categories and include: Dry flies, nymphs, wet flies, terrestrials, and streamers.

Streamers which are sometimes called “lures,” are those flies that have a long tail on them usually made from feathers or hair such as bucktail. They represent or mimic a fish’s food such as bait fish, crayfish, and leeches.

Understanding this can help you fish them properly and catch more fish. Often, a large fish will eat a smaller fish, especially if it appears to be injured. But a smaller fish does not have to appear injured for a larger fish to eat it. As well as smaller fish, leeches and crayfish are a major source of food, and understanding how these move in the water and attempting to duplicate that movement will enable you to catch more of the fish you are targeting.

Fish will often feed at different depths depending on the water temperature, clarity, and other conditions. If you’re fly fishing a lake, it is recommended that you have a variety of sinking lines that sink at different rates. As well, a floating line is helpful for when fish are feeding at or near the surface.

When using a streamer, you should try different retrieves. Sometimes, a fast retrieve will work much better than a slow retrieve. Other times, the fish will react viciously to what appears to be a slow injured fish or leech. Try jerky retrieves as well. When fishing a leech type of fly, stripping the line in and then letting the fly “hang” in the water can be a very effective technique. If your fly is weighted near the head, as you pause, the fly will dip head first and create an action that can be very enticing to fish.

If you are getting “bumps” to your fly, where it seems as if fish are attempting to take it but are not getting hooked, try trimming the length of the tail a bit. The fish are probably trying to take the fly but possibly are not too aggressive, and are only taking a small length of the tail into their mouth. Trimming the tail down may help you get more hookups in this situation. Be sure to learn a variety of fly fishing techniques in order to increase your chances of success.

There are many fantastic streamer type flies that will often work when other flies such as nymphs and dry flies are not. You should try a variety of sizes and colours. Sometimes, black or dark colours are fantastic, while other times, the fish seem to be more attracted to white, green, or red. Some suggestions include the famous Mickey Finn, Peter Charles’ Mini-Brown pattern, and The Blue Thunder by Ian James. Where legal, double hook fly patterns such as the Black & Blue Jam Fly developed by Stevie Munn can be very effective on a variety of trout and salmon.

About the Author

If you’ve been fly fishing for any length of time, you’ll probably want to learn fly tying. Tying up your own patterns, whether they are streamers, nymphs, dry flies, wets or terrerstrials can also be a lot of fun and the experience of catching fish on your own tied flies is very fulfilling.
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