The Maple Leaf Streamer

[photoguy]

You've likely never heard of this fly, as I just discovered it yesterday...or at least it's new one to me

So, there I was fishing yesterday. A beautiful Fall day in New England, and a typical day for me- I started off using what I thought *should* work and then switched it up when it didn't and all in all, a reasonable amount of success.

In the afternoon I had moved on to a big fat streamer that was showing a lot of promise. On the second or third cast I hooked a maple leaf that was one of a thousand floating down on the surface of the river. It was late in the afternoon and I was admittedly a little lazy at that point so instead of retrieving the fly fully to clear the leaf, I dunked it up and own on the surface hoping the leaf would clear itself. 3 or 4 'dunks' later and a big fat rainbow came out of nowhere and swallowed the streamer and the leaf attached to it like a hungry person and a T-bone steak. Then he took off and put up a nice fight. I got him to the net and released him wondering if that had just been a weird fluke? I thought I'd experiment a little. I took the streamer (this time with no leaf) and dunked it up and down again, just breaking the surface of the water. Sure enough, within 30 seconds another rainbow came from nowhere and aggressively grabbed it. Then another nice fight and then another release. I got the feeling I could have one this al day with the same results.

Not entirely sure what this behavior was as it's the first time I've witnessed it. Truthfully though, the experience was a little like being at a strip club- it felt a little 'dirty' but I'm glad I got the chance to see it.

 

[Ard]

That's unusual in my book buddy, I've never caught a fish on a streamer with even a single blade of grass on it. It was your day for sure.

 

[jzim]

You've likely never heard of this fly, as I just discovered it yesterday...or at least it's new one to me

So, there I was fishing yesterday. A beautiful Fall day in New England, and a typical day for me- I started off using what I thought *should* work and then switched it up when it didn't and all in all, a reasonable amount of success.

In the afternoon I had moved on to a big fat streamer that was showing a lot of promise. On the second or third cast I hooked a maple leaf that was one of a thousand floating down on the surface of the river. It was late in the afternoon and I was admittedly a little lazy at that point so instead of retrieving the fly fully to clear the leaf, I dunked it up and own on the surface hoping the leaf would clear itself. 3 or 4 'dunks' later and a big fat rainbow came out of nowhere and swallowed the streamer and the leaf attached to it like a hungry person and a T-bone steak. Then he took off and put up a nice fight. I got him to the net and released him wondering if that had just been a weird fluke? I thought I'd experiment a little. I took the streamer (this time with no leaf) and dunked it up and down again, just breaking the surface of the water. Sure enough, within 30 seconds another rainbow came from nowhere and aggressively grabbed it. Then another nice fight and then another release. I got the feeling I could have one this al day with the same results.

Not entirely sure what this behavior was as it's the first time I've witnessed it. Truthfully though, the experience was a little like being at a strip club- it felt a little 'dirty' but I'm glad I got the chance to see it.

How much line do you have out when you dunk? I'm trying to envision dunking a weighted streamer with a lot of line out.

 

[flytie09]

I'm usually nuts about checking my hook point, knots, leaders and for any debris on my fly. We had the leaf hatch on the SR in NY and it's frustrating beyond words. So I get it.

This man (Rockwell Hammond) has taken it to a new level with his Leaf Matter fly. Check it out on here and his website. Some amazing stuff.....beyond his beautiful leaf flies.

Leaf Matter by Rockwell Hammond Jr. - Ultimate Hook

This is a fly called Leaf Matter that was tied by Rockwell Hammond Jr. or Rocky. Rocky ties some beautiful flies and is very talented. You can see more work at his website.

ultimatehook.com

 

[photoguy]

How much line do you have out when you dunk? I'm trying to envision dunking a weighted streamer with a lot of line out.

Not much line at all in fact the line had all been striped back save for the leader, so it was a short length. Picture the rod held high with just the leader hanging down. This happened (on both occasions) within 2' of my body. I could have easily reached out and grabbed the fly to take off the leaf but as I said I was being lazy and thought a dunk or two would clear it. But it never had the chance to unhook the leaf; the fish grabbed it first.

 

[photoguy]

I'm usually nuts about checking my hook point, knots, leaders and for any debris on my fly. We had the leaf hatch on the SR in NY and it's frustrating beyond words. So I get it.

This man (Rockwell Hammond) has taken it to a new level with his Leaf Matter fly. Check it out on here and his website. Some amazing stuff.....beyond his beautiful leaf flies.

Leaf Matter by Rockwell Hammond Jr. - Ultimate Hook

This is a fly called Leaf Matter that was tied by Rockwell Hammond Jr. or Rocky. Rocky ties some beautiful flies and is very talented. You can see more work at his website.

ultimatehook.com

View attachment 27253

Those are some beautiful flys And! Much prettier than what I experienced which was nothing more than a brown maple leaf that I happened to hook with my streamer. In my case it literally was a small maple leaf dancing/bouncing on the water surface that brought the fish.

 

[photoguy]

Here's a reenactment As an aside- I've had lots of experiences hooking a little broke, hand retrieving the line to get him off the hook and at the very last minute a rainbow will come along and swallow him. They must sense a fish in distress vibrations in the water which I'm assuming this leaf/streamer imitated. In fact this happened just last week. The rainbow swallowed the brookie whole, I grabbed the net to get the rainbow, and when he saw the net, he spit out the brookie. LOL!

 

[jzim]

Here's a reenactment As an aside- I've had lots of experiences hooking a little broke, hand retrieving the line to get him off the hook and at the very last minute a rainbow will come along and swallow him. They must sense a fish in distress vibrations in the water which I'm assuming this leaf/streamer imitated. In fact this happened just last week. The rainbow swallowed the brookie whole, I grabbed the net to get the rainbow, and when he saw the net, he spit out the brookie. LOL!

Thanks for explanation.

 

[LandoLando]

That's unusual in my book buddy, I've never caught a fish on a streamer with even a single blade of grass on it. It was your day for sure.

Interesting you say that. Grass, Moss, leaves all of the above have consistently meant no takes for me, which makes sense. What doesn’t make sense to me is when I hook a cased caddis I also don’t get any takes, when I’m inadvertently fishing with live bait.

 

[photoguy]

That's unusual in my book buddy, I've never caught a fish on a streamer with even a single blade of grass on it. It was your day for sure.

Ditto! More times than not I have to clean my streamers every few casts as they get polluted with grass or other material in the river. this was a sight to see though, and perplexing in that I was able to repeat it.

-Weird, definitely.