Winter Streamer Fishing

[supervdl]

I am curious to see how many of you fish streamers in the winter. What are your favorite streamers? Do you dead drift, do you swing it across or strip it? What spots/ locations do you target with the fly? I am planning on doing more streamer fishing this winter and looking for some ideas to try out.

 

[ryansheehan]

Wooly buggers on the dead drift work well for me this time of year.

 

[jifigz]

This might sound too general to be "good advice" but that isn't true. Trout are easy to locate in the winter and they don't change their habitats as much as many other fish species from do as the seasons change. Read the water. Current breaks, drop offs, pools, pocket water, deep drop offs, etc all will hold fish.

Buggers, slumpbusters, and clousers make up the majority of my trout streamer fishing, but anything strapped to a hook will work. I dead drift, strip aggressively, and swing it. It depends on how I can approach the water and my abilities to position myself properly given my surroundings. I will often start off hitting a piece of water by using the dead drift/swing approach but will also give aggressive strips/jigging a try before moving on. Keep it simple. Trout aren't hard to catch.

 

[afishinado]

Agree with jifigz above ^


Here is a video I recently uploaded in the "tips" forum that does a good job of covering the ways to cover water and fish a streamer in the winter >

 

[raftman]

Black Woolly Bugger anyway you can get it through the water.

 

[Dave_W]

I'm an avid winter streamer fisherman.

In addition to what others have said above, I'd add that I have somewhat less confidence in traditional down and across streamer fishing in winter. In my experience, water temps below about 42 degrees reduce the effectiveness of D&A presentations and in such cold conditions a direct upstream presentation works better as you want the streamer to be right on the bottom and moving slowly.

Also, water clarity in winter can be extremely clear and I'm less confident in streamers in these conditions.

If water levels are up a bit and experiencing a warming trend, by all means huck streamers. If water levels are low, clear, and very cold, I tend to reach for my nymph box rather than the streamers.

Generally speaking, limestone or limestone influenced streams are better winter streamer destinations than freestone.

 

[Out4Trout]

Fishing a Woolly Bugger is always my 1st choice. I agree with others that a dead drift is usually best in winter but if it warms up also try the across and swing. Something about the aggressive hits using a bugger that keeps me going back. Tight Lines !!

 

[Nymph-wristed]

All good advice above. I don't question the effectiveness in winter, but I am not a dead drift fan. If I feel like I need to dead drift, I do what what Dave said above, fish upstream like I am nymph fishing. Bouncing a heavier bugger downstream towards you, right on the bottom is very effective, especially in deep holes. Some things don't change regardless of season, like stained higher water being better and so on.

 

[ryansheehan]

Nymph-wristed wrote:
All good advice above. I don't question the effectiveness in winter, but I am not a dead drift fan. If I feel like I need to dead drift, I do what what Dave said above, fish upstream like I am nymph fishing. Bouncing a heavier bugger downstream towards you, right on the bottom is very effective, especially in deep holes. Some things don't change regardless of season, like stained higher water being better and so on.

When I say I'm dead drifting a bugger that's what I mean, fishing it just like a nymph, is that not what others mean too?

 

[Nymph-wristed]

ryansheehan wrote:

Nymph-wristed wrote:
All good advice above. I don't question the effectiveness in winter, but I am not a dead drift fan. If I feel like I need to dead drift, I do what what Dave said above, fish upstream like I am nymph fishing. Bouncing a heavier bugger downstream towards you, right on the bottom is very effective, especially in deep holes. Some things don't change regardless of season, like stained higher water being better and so on.

When I say I'm dead drifting a bugger that's what I mean, fishing it just like a nymph, is that not what others mean too?

That is a good question on the nymph fishing comment, which was imprecise in my original comments. I just meant working a piece of water upstream as if I were nymphing. I hear the term dead drift and I picture fishing with no action, likely under an indicator. I still fish them with action, perhaps more like a crayfish or other bottom dweller. I use a heavier bug and bounce it downstream towards me.

 

[Hook_Jaw]

A bugger anyway fished is a very effective streamer. Depends on all the factors what I throw but these days unless it's really low I am throwing something pretty big mostly articulated.

 

[afishinado]

Linked below is a great article about fishing a streamer with a long Euro style leader and sighter.

I often employ a similar technique in the colder winter water that teases trout (or smallies) into striking when the old swing and strip methods fail.

The greatest thing is the changeover from nymph to streamer fishing is quick and easy.

But remember, it's best to use a heavy tippet with streamers, like 3x or so for trout and even heavier for bass.

https://www.tacticalflyfisher.com/blog/the-benefits-of-streamer-fishingon-a-euro-nymphing-leader/?fbclid=IwAR1vnhGn0z3pU36uODIcGHnhoPaVhY4fVaxlqEpFWT2SwI1KWpXWU2mw1Oo

 

[rrt]

I have not used a streamer in years. This thread (and an old book I recently read) has me thinking about giving it a go sometime when the weather warms up a little.

I was never a good streamer fisherman for trout: hooked only a small percentage of the fish that took. Though I haven't fished for smallies on purpose in quite a while, I did hook the majority of those that bit. Could never figure out the difference.

 

[afishinado]

rrt wrote:
I have not used a streamer in years. This thread (and an old book I recently read) has me thinking about giving it a go sometime when the weather warms up a little.

I was never a good streamer fisherman for trout: hooked only a small percentage of the fish that took. Though I haven't fished for smallies on purpose in quite a while, I did hook the majority of those that bit. Could never figure out the difference.

The difference in hooking percentage when fishing streamers for trout vs smallies is often astonishing (high for bass and low for trout).

I tie streamers different for trout > hook closer to the tail and have also resorted at times to a stinger hook or and articulated streamer tied with the hook section in the rear.

 

[JackM]

Even though trout are really dumb, bass are even dumber.

 

[silverfox]

I used to hate fishing streamers. Then one winter I forced myself to do it exclusively. Now I'm a bit addicted to it as you run into fish that you never knew were there. The excitement of seeing an 18 inch fish shoot out from cover, or the depths to hammer a streamer is unmatched.

I fish sculpins and matukas almost exclusively. I fish a little different than a lot of people I think. I heavily weight the sculpins with a fishskull sculpin helmets AND lead wraps on the body. Just a bunch of lead wraps on the matukas.

I drive them into deep water near cover like I'm trying to use the rod like a hammer. Once you think the streamer is deep, start vertically jigging it aggressively. That's why you need all the weight, so they drop immediately after the lift. Most strikes occur on the lift. Something about a sculpin shooting up off the bottom triggers strikes like nothing I've ever seen before.

I use a rod that is as long as I can without getting frustrating. On larger water, 10 foot, on medium water 9 foot and on smaller streams 8 foot or 7'-6". To vertically jig these big heavy streamers you need as much reach as you can get. I run straight 8lb fluoro from the fly line to the fly.

I don't really change presentation throughout the year and I haven't really seen much of a difference in their reaction in winter vs summer.

Sometimes I feel like fishing this way is cheating, and it's so effective that I now have to force myself to fish actual "flies".

 

[Swattie87]

Good thread. Good discussion.

In Winter, I'm generally in the dead drift camp, like you'd fish a nymph setup almost. Some occasional light strips or rod lifts to avoid snags and keep it just off the bottom. Basically just shy of a complete dead drift. I generally fish pretty small streamers anyway, but I go even smaller in Winter...Size 12, or 14 even. I'm not entirely sure that's the right approach though...I've seen some guys having success doing the exact opposite...Throwing massive size 4 or 6 stuff in Winter. There's no one right answer. Can never go wrong with a simple BH Bugger, but lately I've been into Slumpbusters with coneheads too.

In general, Trout fishing is slower in the Winter, and you usually catch less fish using all techniques than you do in warmer weather. With streamers, the fish that are motivated (for whatever reason) to eat it, do so aggressively and the strikes are similar to those in warmer weather, agree with that. I just generally find I'm able to motivate less fish in Winter.

I'm a much better streamer angler than nympher...It's been the opposite for me...I've tried to commit the last few Winters to nymph as opposed to falling back on streamers, which I'm more comfortable with.

As far as the hookup rate in Trout vs. Bass with streamers...Bass have comparatively much larger mouths, for one thing, and tend to "inhale" streamers deeper than Trout. One thing I've found that helps for Trout is to slightly (as in just barely enough to notice) bend the hook on streamers to make a slightly wider gap. Sometimes I feel like when I set the hook I just pull the whole thing straight out of the fish's mouth, and with a narrow hook gap, the hook doesn't catch anything on the way out.