[Stuart Smith]

That's the season started again and I would like to share with you some of the flies I had a lot of fish on last year on some rivers. I took up fishing with streamers a few years ago but last year I mostly fished with them and what a outcome. you wont get a big fish every trip or even every second or third but when you do its worth it.
My most successful was the olive in coloured water with fish over 5lb sometimes a couple in a day from local rivers

I fish with a 9.5ft rod for a 6 weight and a very fast sink tip streamer line with a 13lb tapered leader and I cover ground sometime depends how long much of the river you can fish I will cover miles in a day

If you haven't tried it, one day when your down the river this season and not much is happening put a streamer on and u mite get a fish of a life time

And for all you dry fly fisherman out there one of the best times to fish a streamer is in the middle of a huge hatch when trout are rising everywhere

Its something different to try

Stuart

[Hamish Young]

Nice 

[Ben Dixon]

And for all you dry fly fisherman out there one of the best times to fish a streamer is in the middle of a huge hatch when trout are rising everywhere

Stuart

Yup, agreed 

[Andy Finlay]

Couple of questions which I'm sure have been covered in the past but:
Line choice any recommendations for a 5wt.
Do you need a sink tip and would a sinking trout airflo poly leader do.
Can I get these or similar online or do I need to tie my own.

[Ben Dixon]

Line choice any recommendations for a 5wt.

Yes, a 6wt 

I'm on an Outbound Short float / intermediate and I put a poly on the end if required these days.  This is available in a #5 but would be a special order in UK as the distributors do not carry them.  You'd want a fairly brutal #5 rod to put it on too.

If you've a #7 rod, you'd be far better using is for streamer work, it is tough going on a 5wt set up.

Flies, you can tie them, they don't need to be too fancy.  I'm sure that there are places that you could get them but I've not found anywhere in the UK that supplies what I tend to fish, if I could buy them I would!

Cheers

Ben

[Andy Finlay]

Cheers Ben,

Funnily enough I've an outbound short 5wt which I bought for boat fishing when windy. Rods a Scott S4 so not too bad with the line. If I was purely going out with the intention of fishing streamers could take a 7wt rod as you mention instead though.

With regards to patterns, what does everyone recommend so I can hunt for some SBS.

[Stuart Smith]

I started out using a full sink. It was a airflow DI7 or something like that but you don't need a full sink because your not casting that far. I them moved onto a 5 weight sink tip line.it had about a 15 foot sink tip and I used a poly leader on the end and it worked the problem was the flies I was using. when your casting a 4 inch fly that has a lot of rabbit on it it hard work

I bought a book by Kelly Galloup and its all about streamer fishing and his style of fishing is a bit different but it really works. He uses 6 and 7 weight rods and heavy lines but hes not casting far, hes casting and moving coving water because theres not many of these big fish so you have to find them

When I started using Kelly's style of fishing I started catching a lot more fish

as for flies I tie my own so I can get the fly the way I like them. I started using rainbow lures in big sizes buy I found I didn't like the way they swam in the river so ive mucked about with them and got them the way they catch fish for me

what I should say is even tho im fishing a very fast sinking most of the time im looking for water upto 6 foot deep and I try and fish my flies mid water coming down stream so the flies are a lot to do with shape

stuart

[Peter McCallum]

What size of hooks are you using Stu

[Rob Brownfield]

I use a 7 weight too, with a Rio streamer tip line. I can't think of a single day where I have fished the river without a strong wind pushing across the river so a 7 weight comes in handy. I used to use a 6 weight but found it hard going. I do tend to use large flies though

[Stuart Smith]

Peter most of my flies are on size 2 4x. I have a few flies that are upto 7 inch long and have had fish on them but mostly fish with flies about the 4 inch long mark

[Hamish Young]

Good man  Give 'em a mouthful 

H 

PS - Peter, you plan on streamer fishing Thought that wasn't your bag 

[Peter McCallum]

PS - Peter, you plan on streamer fishing Thought that wasn't your bag 

Hey if the fishmeister says they're the way to go who am I to argue. I'm dapping & fishing size 2 4x hogs because of him.......He's a very bad influence on me   

[Andy Finlay]

I've been having a think about this again. I do have a 7wt rod at home but considering I havent used it in years not even sure what I have line wise.
Having a look on the web and since this wont be my main type of fishing I was wondering what line would be best to go for.
I was thinking a GT90 WF7F with a sink tip as I would prefer to line Mikes pockets than anyone elses.
Failing that, was looking at the cortland fairplay rocket taper.
Any help appreciated.

[Ben Dixon]

Hi Andy,

The SLX would be far more suitable for throwing sink tips and big flies particularly if you are stripping.


Cheers

Ben

[Andy Finlay]

Cheers Ben, got some flies on the way that in theory look good from the descriptions. Will post some pics when I get home as may be an option for those lazy like me and can't get the time to tie or since this is the tying section may provide some inspiration for those that do.