Troutbitten

Breaking Down Streamer Presentations

November 16, 2021 Domenick Swentosky Season 1 Episode 9
Troutbitten
Breaking Down Streamer Presentations
Show Notes Transcript

While fishing a streamer, we’re trying to make it look alive. That's the difference. Because, while fly fishing other styles, we spend so much of our time dead drifting dry flies and nymphs and trying to impart no motion, that switching to streamers is a relief. It’s liberating. It’s fun.

And so many presentations — so many looks to the streamer — can be attractive and convincing. Because everything works sometimes.

But day to day, some retrieves and presentations just work better. And there’s no question about it. Sometimes, hammering the banks with a fast jerk-strip brings the big trout out to play. And other days it’s a soft crossover technique that really turns on those same trout.

The joy of streamer fishing is that so many things can work. And trying them all is a great way to spend our time on the water.

On a dry fly, I’ll tell you what they want: It’s a dead drift. On a nymph? Same thing. And the closer you can get to that pure, unaltered drift, the more convincing your fly presentation will be.

But on streamers? Show them a slow slide or a head flip. Give them a speed lead, a touch-and-go or an endless retrieve. See what works.

That’s the fun of streamer fishing. Make the fly look alive in the water. It’s not dead drifting anymore — it’s swimming a living baitfish that can do a bunch of predictable and unpredictable things.

Sometimes it seems like the trout are looking for one kind of action on the fly — or at least that’s what turns them on most. Other times, many of these presentations seem to work. But the point is to make that fly swim. Give life to the streamer. Convince the trout that they’re looking at a living, swimming creature.

And that's what this podcast conversation is about -- breaking down streamer presentations. How do we move the fly with the line hand and the rod tip, with strips, jigs, twitches and more? 

This discussion, with four of my best fishing friends, is about what makes each presentations to the fly unique. How does what we do on our end of the line affect what happens at the other end?

We Discuss the Following

  • Stripping and hand twisting
  • Line hand motion vs rod tip motion
  • Rod position upon fly entry
  • Contact vs slack
  • Jig, jerks, twitches, pulses, strips
  • Head position
  • Depth
  • Speed
  • Holding seams vs crossing seams
  • Natural vs attractive presentations
  • Make it easy or make them chase

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | Category | Streamers
READ: Troutbitten | Modern Streamers -- Too Much Motion?
READ: Troutbitten | Streamers as an Easy Meal -- The Old School Streamer Thing
READ: Troutbitten | Streamer Presentations -- The Death Drift
READ: Troutbitten | Streamer Presentations -- The Deadly Slow Slide


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So this is the Troutbitten podcast. Welcome back, and thanks for tuning in. 

I’m Domenick Swentosky, the owner of Troutbitten and the author of Troutbitten.com. I started all of this in 2014, and now the website hosts over 750 of my articles, with tips and tactics, stories and more, about fly fishing for wild trout in wild places.

And this podcast series is the latest branch of the Troutbitten project. 

If you visit Troutbitten.com, you’ll find a category for streamers in the menu. And much of what we’ll talk about tonight is detailed in those articles. There are at least a hundred of them, really, that break down the way we take a streamer to the trout — a book’s worth of information about fishing with the long flies.

So here’s the thing — when we’re fishing a streamer, we’re trying to make it look ALIVE. 

But while fly fishing in other ways, we spend so much of our time dead drifting dry flies and nymphs, and trying to impart NO motion, so switching to streamers is a relief. It’s liberating. It’s fun.

And so many presentations — so many looks to the streamer — can be attractive and convincing. Because everything works sometimes. 

But day to day, some retrieves and presentations just work better. And there’s no question about it. Sometimes, hammering the banks with a fast jerk-strip brings the big trout out to play. And other days it’s a soft crossover technique that really turns on those same trout.

The joy of streamer fishing is that so many things can work. And trying them all is a great way to spend our time on the water. 

On a dry fly, I’ll tell you what they want: It’s a dead drift. On a nymph? Same thing. And the closer you can get to that pure, unaltered drift, the more convincing your fly presentation will be. Let’s say ninety-five percent of the time it’s a dead drift on a nymph or dry.

But on streamers? Show them a slow slide or a head flip. Give them a speed lead, a touch-and-go or an endless retrieve.

See what works. 

That’s the fun of streamer fishing. Make the fly look alive in the water. It’s not dead drifting anymore — it’s swimming a living baitfish that can do a bunch of predictable and unpredictable things.

Sometimes it seems like the trout are looking for one kind of action on the fly — or at least that’s what turns them on most. Other times, many of these presentations seem to work. But the point is to make that fly swim. Give life to the streamer. Convince the trout that they’re looking at a living, swimming creature. 

So that’s what we’re here to talk about tonight. We’re ready to break down streamer presentations. We’ll discuss ways to move the fly. We’ll get into head position, depth, speed and holding vs crossing currents and seams. Well touch on natural looks vs attractive ones. Should we make it easy for them or make them chase?

Then we’ll talk about a few different, specific presentations. Many of them, I have names for. Because that’s what I do. I’m a writer, and all good things need a name.

Likewise, my friends have their own favorite looks and presentations to make a streamer fool a trout.

So let’s meet these guys. Here are four of my good friends and some of the best anglers that I know . . .

Introductions and discussion . . .