by “Trutta”
Winters approaching or is it here?
Either way now is a good time to keep a few streamer flies like the Woolly Bugger in your fly box, ready for use. That’s because river flows are higher and punctuated by spates or floods. Even after a flood as the river level drops back and the river is still off-colour, try a streamer.
When you’re streamer fishing in high and off-colour water, the rule of delicate trout presentations doesn’t apply. In high and murky water, trout will tend to hold towards the edges, i.e. the bank, for protection from the current and feeding purposes.
Presentation of the fly doesn’t matter so much as in clear water.
You don’t need a delicate tippet to the leader in murky water. Nor a long leader.
Cast out and across but you hardly need to wade into the water because trout are likely to be holding near the water’s edge.
Let the streamer fly swing around and hold the line in your left hand, assuming you’re right handed. Southpaws (i.e. left handed) use the right hand.
A black Wooly Bugger suits murky water but there’s other streamer flies like Hairy Dog, Mrs Simpson and a few others to boot. The Mrs Simpson is a good cockabully imitation. It looks the goods.
Other flies in the streamer style for post-flood clearing water are John Morton’s Hobnail Boot, a dark Rabbit fly, black Marabou and Hamill’s Killer.
Mrs Simpson streamer fly