Help with brown trout streamers

[[email protected] 0]

I live in new york and will be fishing mostly small streams and the Battenkill. What are some easy streamers to tie that will catch some big browns?

[mikechell 0]

Clouser with bead chain eyes instead of lead barbells. Won't sink as fast and can be dropped in closer to banks. I tie them with bead chain because, in my experience, heavier barbell eyes can sink right into the snags. I am not in trout country, but the same application applies for bass and big bream.

[Dcap240 0]

You can't go wrong with a wooly bugger. Zonker type flies always work well. I also agree with a clouser. I tie them with lead barbells but also with brass and bead chain. The wooly bugger and zonker have hundreds of variations.

[Fisherboy0301 0]

Any of the articulated patterns by flyfishfood.

[tidewaterfly 0]

Basic rabbit strip flies are easy to tie & quite effective on many species.

 

This one is about 3" total length. Tail is straight cut rabbit strip & the body is cross cut rabbit, plus there's the cone head for weight. Bead heads, barbell eyes (which invert the hook) or bead chain eyes can also be used for varied weight. This one is also tied with different strips in the body to get the barred appearance, but easier to tie with a single cross cut strip.

 

Tie them in any colors you like, as they can imitate many things a trout might eat, like Leeches or Sculpins.

 

 

This next one is a very simple Clouser Minnow style fly. Works well as a Leech imitation. I tie it primarily for Smallmouth bass, but have caught trout on them too.

This one has black brass barbell eyes, and is tied very full using black ostrich herl. There's a few strands of Flashabou in there as well. I use bronze, copper, black, & gold in these the most, and usually a few strands of each in the same fly. Of course, you can use whatever you like best.

I don't feel thread color matters much, but in this one I used olive.

 

[[email protected] 0]

Thank you. i will be trying to tie some of these.

[tidewaterfly 0]

If you have any problems, just ask for some help! There's plenty of folks here who will provide good advice.

 

Once you get some of them tied, if possible post some pictures. I take it your tying experience is limited, so some critique may help you improve & advance your skills a bit more rapidly.

[[email protected] 0]

Thank you very much. Yes it is very limited. I have only tied about 20 flies so far. So far I've tried wooly bugger which is very simple, blue winged olive, parachute adams some nymphs and some caddis fly. I like the idea of using the big streamers for big trout but getting into tying them seems a bit intimidating.

[JSzymczyk 0]

Don't be intimidated.

 

I would say go back to the basics.... a simple marabou streamer on a 3xl or 4xl hook, size 8 or thereabouts, with a silver tinsel body, a few red hackle barbs for a throat, and a couple peacock herls as a topping will catch trout ANYWHERE. No need to be complicated or confused. If you NEEDED all sorts of articulated BS with 45 steps in the tying, almost no one would ever catch anything. Tie some of them big, on bigger hooks, no worries. Yellow with gold tinsel body is always a good option to add along with white.

 

As already mentioned, Bucktails such as the Clouser Deep Minnow are sure-fire patterns too, and they get a little more complicated to tie as well (which is good...) and woolly buggers will also catch fish anywhere.

 

Don't forget, there were billions of trout caught before articulated streamers and all these "new" complicated things were ever dreamed of. The fish have not changed, but many fly fishermen would have you believe otherwise.

[mikechell 0]

Don't be intimidated.

 

The fish have not changed, but many fly fishermen would have you believe otherwise.

From what I hear, JS ... most fish are only one toxic spill away from becoming "Godzilla"s.

[Kudu 0]

You ready mentioned buggers. Tie big ones and add a flymenfishingcompany skull. They have weighted and unweighted and they make an easy to tie good looking and effective fly.

[[email protected] 0]

Don't be intimidated.

 

I would say go back to the basics.... a simple marabou streamer on a 3xl or 4xl hook, size 8 or thereabouts, with a silver tinsel body, a few red hackle barbs for a throat, and a couple peacock herls as a topping will catch trout ANYWHERE. No need to be complicated or confused. If you NEEDED all sorts of articulated BS with 45 steps in the tying, almost no one would ever catch anything. Tie some of them big, on bigger hooks, no worries. Yellow with gold tinsel body is always a good option to add along with white.

 

As already mentioned, Bucktails such as the Clouser Deep Minnow are sure-fire patterns too, and they get a little more complicated to tie as well (which is good...) and woolly buggers will also catch fish anywhere.

 

Don't forget, there were billions of trout caught before articulated streamers and all these "new" complicated things were ever dreamed of. The fish have not changed, but many fly fishermen would have you believe otherwise.

Do you have a picture of what your are describing? Sounds like something i would be interested in tying.

[troutguy 0]

How did I miss this thread? I love Browns and streamers.

 

HerrickKyle go look at the Battenkill or Beaverkill or Schoharie or where ever you fish in upstate NY during the day. Look for a pool with places where fish could hide all day. It should be a decently wide pool. Learn the water and go back fishing at 9 or 10 PM. Get a red flashlight or one of those red chemical light sticks to change your flies and not spook the fish. I like a large non-weighted Muddler Minnow at night. Large Brown Trout are nocturnal. They eat mice, crayfish, madtoms, chubs and minnows and other trout. You will see them in shallow water even nosing rocks looking for crayfish.

 

Fish hunt by feeling the vibration and seeing the form against the sky at night. You want a streamer that pushes a good bit of water.

 

During the day drop a rabbit strip fly like in the other post in pools you can't see the bottom or deeper riffled areas.

 

Nothing beats a Black Nose Dace bucktail sparsely tied either during the day.

[colotyer 0]

Brahma Bugger.