How to select streamer sizes.

[WildTigerTrout]

I tie many streamers and buggers on smaller hooks. Mostly size 10 and 12. I have tied down to size 14 and they work just fine. They are easy to cast on smaller weight rods too.

 

[Lonewolve]

I go to Maine and fish both Rangeley and Moosehead areas.i was fishing the Rapid one day and a fellow and i got talkin about streamers since he asked what i was using i showed him a size #4 Black Ghost tied on 8 xlong shank,he pulls out his streamer wallet and has some streamers on a 10 xlong #2 streamer hook,darned streamer was pushing 5 inches maybe a whisker longer.I said you don't actually catch anything here with that do you,He had a pic in his wallet with a grey ghost that size and the biggest brook trout i have ever seen in the wild what a fly what a fish.
i have seen small brown trout in larger brown trouts mouths on the lil lehigh from time to time.If you want to get bigger ya gotta eat ,and brownies like to eat even if its one of their own.
i was helping Rod out one time with a Lefty Kreh class and lefty is showing how to cast/fish the clouser half an half below the shop opposite side of the creek,out of no where this big brown charged and grabbed his fly...there was no hook on it he had cut it off earlier that trout was as big if not bigger than the upstream hatchery browns and it hel on till he brought it to the bank,the fish felt the bank and let go of the fly like in a cartoon back in the drink he went,then lefty showed the class the fly with no hook.Go figure that was impressive.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace

 

[ponner1us]

Take this for what it's worth, but I catch plenty of salmon & steelhead on sz 10 long shank egg-sucking leeches and buggers, as well as trout, so I think anywhere from size 6-12 should be a good size for PA trout.

 

[midnightangler]

What previous posters say is true: if they can fit it in their mouth, they will try to eat it.

 

[drews]

midnightangler wrote:
What previous posters say is true: if they can fit it in their mouth, they will try to eat it.

Thats a great photo!

 

[midnightangler]

thanks drews. some days those little guys just can't say no.

 

[CatchingChrome]

I have caught plenty of fish on all sizes of streamers You can't go wrong with a size 4 for most situations. #2 for really high off color water and size 8 for lower water conditions. Also it is not only the size of the hook but how the fly is tied. You can tie a size 8 fly on a #2 hook by tying it sparse.

 

[Padraic]

Even if a fish can't get the fly in it's mouth, it'll still take a swipe at it. Just make sure the tail is in proper proportion. If it's too long you;ll get "shortstrikes".

 

[quillfly]

i personally tie all my streamers in either a size 12 or 10 these all being some form of the Micky Finn . for buggers i will go up to a size 8 along with my bunny leaches . the reasoning i keep them so small is that i can roll cast with ease which i have a problem with larger flies. that being said i've done rather well with the smaller sizes

 

[troutbert]

Tie them big, medium, and small. To keep it simple, you could probably have 3 sizes of streamer hooks, to cover those 3 categories.

There are times when trout will hit real big streamers. But there are other times when smaller streamers will be just the ticket. I saw this about 2 years ago when fishing with a friend on a brook trout stream. The water was cold and cloudy so they weren't hitting dries. I was using medium sized streamers and caught a few trout. He was using quite small streamers and he was catching trout like crazy, including some big ones (by brookie standards).

It wasn't a matter of the brookies not being able to get the bigger streamers in their mouth. It was a matter of then just not hitting the bigger streamer very often. But they were attacking the smaller streamers in nearly every decent spot.

 

[mtangler]

Generally streamers are designed to target the bigger fish in a given fishery. The larger the trout the bigger the streamer. Here in Montana we frequently fish size 4 streamers or large tandem hook size 6's that are up to 10 inches long. With these large flies we are targetting the trout over the 20" mark but really hoping to entice the elusive fish in the 25-30" class that we see a few of each season. If the max size trout is around 17" on a smaller fishery I'll fish 6s and drop to 8s or 10s if fishing a smaller creek where the big fish top out at 14".

 

[jayL]

I'll be moving to Bozeman in a week or two. We will have to meet up to discuss these 25-30 inch trout. I'll buy the beer...

 

[pete41]

Stop in Baileys if you haven't see what you are targeting-lol
4 pd brown between 24 to 27" so the 30s are around 6 or 7.
Pyramid
100 4pds for every 20 5pds on down to 1 plus ten if you are lucky-I wasn't~nine my best but in the fall bring out the streamers.

 

[iceyguides]

I forget what show it was, but it was some bass fishing show where they have a biologist come on and give fishing tips. I forget the exact numbers but he said they found in studies that a bass' forage base, no matter the size of bass, was 80-90% food items 2-3 inches in length and under. That's bass but i imagine the same principle is at least somewhat applicable to trout. He did say that yes larger fish can and will eat larger prey than a smaller fish, however he felt that most fish stick with the small stuff because of the risk reward ratio.