Streamer Gear Update 22Mar21

I have a 9' “6 wt” Orvis Helios One tip flex & Orvis Mirage III big game reel loaded with SA WF6S line for streamers. The rod measures out with an ERN of 7.8 and AA of 75°!! This is by far my strongest and fastest rod. I always felt I was under-loading the rod with a 6 wt line, and was getting jerked around by the fly as a result. I didn’t like it; I didn't use it. I recently updated the line to an SA Sonar 200 grain head (1st 30 ft) which is more like a 7-8 wt line (mating with the rod much more closely, thanks to measurement understanding) and it made a world of difference in casting; it’s back in rotation with confidence.

With off season research into streamer fishing, especially reading "Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout" from Linsenman & Galloup, watching a bunch of Galloup videos, and discussing the schemes with GLehmann, I am trying to up my game from "backup method" to "goto technique," 'cause the big fish want big meals.

Part of the yield for this season is also a gear change at streamer leader/tippet... I am not planning to "swing" woolly buggers like food but incite strikes as intruders. Slam it and jerk/strip it like a demon. I'll use not only a fast full sinking line of the right weight as described above (to bring the fake bait down & level) but I'm switching to just a three foot leader/tippet rig. I'm using a 1' leader of 20# and a 2' tippet of 12# flouro. Fortunately my fav Japanese tippet manufacturer, released in the US as TroutHunter, just released "Big Game" reels so I've just made up a bunch of the mega rigs ready to go. I'm just going with perfection loop to line and a triple surgeons to tippet. Flouro is great for draggin' over and around rocks... and disappearing.

Coupling new awareness and casting greatness from the updated rig, to the streamer class I took 2 years ago, are some other planned keys. I know #0 from years of hunting the bigs: know the water, cast to fish haunts, like transitions. Else, relative to a streamer attack, are: #1 go beyond the simple strip retrieve... add fishiness to fake bait: do the jerk and the jig, and #2 know your local flies: sculpins, crawfish, baitfish & fry and rotate colors till the bite.

 

UPDATE 3/26... Well, since I was bummed about having to remove a Rodfather rod from the vault to accommodate the streamer rig, I checked out an alternative. I found the Rodfather Rainbow (TFO BVK based 9' 6wt) with a small fixed fighting butt shot the 200 grain head well and is sweetly balanced with the Mirage III. So, I am un-bummed.