[fshfanatic]

I personally like the Gartside Softhackle Streamer. Very versitile and it has caught everything I have throw it at. From Crappie & BlueGill to Bass and trout..

What do you guys like?



Softhackle Streamer

[Curtis]

The "ex-wife" streamer

[TJ Rowden]

Mike:

Haven't have too much luck with streamers which may be due to my limited experience leading me to equate a streamer with a wooly bugger. I admit, I'm interested in your Gartside streamer though. I think I also need to buck-up and just try some "streamer trips." In the next six months, I'll be moving my family most likely to a place where time on the water will increase and opportunities to try out new things to push my knowledge/skill base will be available. I'll keep your suggestion in mind and welcome any basic tips, trips, etc. for streamer success. Most immediately might be a discussion of suggestions of streamers for bass. Before I leave TX, it sounds fun to Gartside some largemouth.

TJ

(P.S. -- Forum looks/feels great thanks to all for their consistent hard work to get this up and going.)

[fshfanatic]

Well, a woolly bugger is a streamer. I am basically a "Stillwater Guy", and for the most part, streamers are all I fish. I like to tie them on to my tippet using a "loop knot" so as the fly can swing freely and I vary my retrieves as much as I vary the streamers I fish.. The trick, IMO, is constantly change what you are doing until you find what they are looking for.

Sometimes a fast retrieve works best and sometimes a dead slow one..

[BigCliff]

I guess my favorite would have to be all my varieties of Beadhead Skinny Buggers. I use flashabou as the underbody and put some on the tail. My favorite color combos are (flash/feathers) Gold holo/tan, silver holo/grey, blue mirage/grey, chart/olive, and blue/black. I try to match the bead color to the body and use cones sometimes too.

Those of you who tie should really make up some of those black and blue ones, otherwise known as the "Bruise". I fish those in 4-8 down in the deep dark spots with GREAT success.

[royalcutt]

I don't have a particular favorite, but I love something with a big conehead on it to get it down and deep.

[DAVY WOTTON]

Good question, depends on how you determine the word streamer l guess. By definiton of course, normally a fly tied on a single long shank hook or combinations of hooks, that in some way resembles a bait fish !!! at least that was how it used to be.
Typically tied with bucktail or feather wings.
In the UK such flies are more termed as lures.
Anyway, speaking from my choices here, and for trout fishing. Black or white are the two priority colors in my book, olive and brown very close seconds.
Wooly buggers are a fly of American origination, one can argue either way if this fly is a true streamer or not !!

My overall favorite streamer is called a Appetizer, followed by a fly called a Ace of Spades, which is a great fly for night time fishing for Browns.

The Appetizer was innovated by a friend of mine called Bob Church back in the early 70s.
The tying is.

Tail.. Strands of mixed hackle fibre, orange and olive, with some gray mallard flank mixed in.
Body--White chenille-
Ribbing--Oval silver
Beard/ throat hackle, same mix as the tail
Wing--White marabou
Overwing-- gray squirrel tail.

The squirrel is tyed so as it extends about half way the overall wing length.

Hook size, any thing from a 10 LS to a 3ins shank. This fly represents a bait fish, and has taken for me some great trophy fish over the years.
You can also tie this fly as a tandom mount with 2 or 3 hooks of a given size, l like the version with 2 L/S 6 hooks.
You can also vary the tie with the addition of crystal flash, which was not available at the time the fly was innovated.
A further addition is to tie the fly and incorporate a white muddler head. And of course bead head versions.

The Ace of Spades was a fly of the originastion of another dear friend now long a go fishing in the heavens, by the name of David Collyer.
It is based on the New Zealand Matuka style. By the way Matuka is the Mauri
word for the Bittern, a bird that at one time provided the plumage for this fly.
Now protected, it looks very like the flank feathers from the hen ring neck Pheasant.

To tie this fly.

Body--Black chenille.
Rib----Silver oval
Wings-- 2 pairs (4 feathers) dyed black hen facing inward to each other, tied in at the head of the fly. The rib is then wound in the Matuka style from the tail to the head of the fly. You will leave a good length of the wing (hackles) as tail fiber extending past the hook bend.
Hackle-- Black hen.
Overwing-- Folded brown mallard , l have used also silver mallard for this.
This over wing sheaf extending near to 1/2 the body length.

Cheeks--optional-- Jungle cock. I favor this addition my self.

The reason why hen feather is best used is for the wings is that it is far more dense in fiber than rooster. Unless you can find some real good webby Chinese necks.

I will add a further note hear and it is this, Matuka style flies have to some extent gone out of fashion to day, but they still are very effective streamer type fly patterns.
The modern day zonker is of course a Matuka version.
Here again the origination of the use of animal fur strip for the wing is of NZ origin. Rabbit .

Happy fishing guys.

Davy