Fall Trout Streamers

First I noticed a flash in the water right in front of me.

- Ralph Scherder

Then a trout splashed across the surface, and an older gentleman standing a dozen paces upstream deftly netted it and dropped it in his creel. “Well,” he said a little sheepishly, “I guess that’s my limit.”

Catch and release was still a novel idea back then, and he began to pack it in.

“What are you using?” I asked before he could leave. He considered a moment, then he swung his long rod my way and dangled the fly in front of my nose. It was a dark-colored little number with a marabou tail. Perhaps thinking better of sharing such a secret weapon, he swung it away before I could get a better look.

When the evening bite picked up, I also caught my limit drifting dry flies into a mayfly hatch. Even as a kid, I could catch trout during mayfly hatches. But when the fish weren’t rising, I was clueless.

The next time I was at the library, I looked in a fly-tying book and found what I had seen. It was definitely a streamer, most likely a Matuka. I also learned that streamers don’t have to match a hatch. Rather, they imitate the bait fish, crayfish, leeches, sculpin and the underwater insects trout eat all day long.

It could be argued (and I would not argue against it) that early October is the best time of all to cast streamers for brown trout, brook trout, and steelhead that are fattening up for the spawn to come.

The old adage “big bait, big fish” applies here, though it’s important to keep things in perspective. Most streamers are tied on long-shank hooks (2XL and up) and are frequently bulky, which already gives them a larger profile than nymphs and wet flies. The No. 1 mistake I see other fishermen make is using flies that are too big, even in the fall when they might get away with it. If you’re on a stream where the trout average 10 inches, there’s just no reason to throw a size 2 or 4 streamer.