Casting a Streamer

Since I posted these last few articles about woolly buggers, I have had a few of my fly fishing buddies ask me about the details involved with casting streamers. It really isn’t very hard at all. In fact, you can pretty much get away with all kinds of casts and retrieves when it comes to fishing these types of patterns.


Streams – I like to cast short and toward the opposite bank allowing the flow to swing the streamer into the center of the creek hopefully through an eddy or pool. Often this approach will yield a strike as the fly straightens out the line down-stream of your position. Go ahead and slightly jig the fly as the water is carrying it to its final position as this will simulate a wounded bait fish.

Ponds – You will really need to experiment with depth here. I have had strikes just below the surface while other trips only seemed to yield activity at the very bottom of the pond. In these situations, I like to carry two different types of line, a floating line and an intermediate sinking line. In both cases, be sure to extend your leaders past 9 feet, I sometimes use 12 and I always use fluorocarbon in these situations. Once you have reached the depth that you wish to fish, play around with various retrieves (slow and fast) and see which one entices the fish to bite.

In either one of these instances, the streamer selection will also be very important. If you happen to notice lots of minnows in the water, a streamer with flash and a faster retrieve may be just what the doctor ordered. However, if you happen to see crayfish bouncing through the silt, selecting an orange or brown pattern and jigging it right off the bottom may prove to be best.