Streamers On The Current

[Micah]

Greetings and Happy Thanksgiving,

What success, if any have you had with streamers in the Current or other Missouri trout streams? Any advice for someone who's never used them?

[Chris Gates]

Streamers are great. Little woolies work well as a standard as well as bigger stuff as well. While wade fishing focus on a very slow retrieve as your fly will always go down and across and then slowly stripping it up river. When fishing from a boat I prefer to swim the fly across the stream while paying attention to the action of the fly, it is much more visual from a boat. If wading try some beadhead pine squirrel leechs in different colors, little woolies, mohair leeches, etc.

[Al Agnew]

Streamers tend to work best if the water is a little murky, or in low light days and/or days with enough wind to put a good chop on the water. I don't usually fish them in low, clear water conditions, but if rain gets the river up a bit I'll give them a good try.

[Gavin]

As Al said...Morning, Evening, or after dark when the water is clear. A rainy day or overcast with some murk in the water is usually your best bet for daytime streamer fishing...Sculpins, large minnows, and crawfish are big fish food. Bluebird & windy is almost always tough. Choose accourdingly.

[XP 590]

Agree with all above. I'm mainly a wooly bugger guy, they work so well it's hard for me to switch. 90% of the fish I've caught on the Niangua the last 5 yrs have been on sculpin colored wooly, with a green flashy body. Sculpin color is like a muddy olive and it kills for me. I've used a variety of wooly colors on the Current and and also done well. I work them differently on different rivers. On most sections of the upper Current, the flow is slow to moderate and I strip them or twitch them. On a river like the Niangua with faster flow in most areas, I pretty much fish them on the swing, throwing across at different angles, mending for different depths, and holding on. The tug when they slam those things on the swing in addictive. I've had to learn a lighter set to avoid breaking them off, and I learned to always let that swing dangle straight downstream for 10-15 seconds. There is a good chance a fish has been eyeballing it and is waiting for a twitch to strike.

[Micah]

Thanks guys. I've gotta admit, I've tied lots of buggars, but never fished any of them. Guess it's because I never knew how. This is all good info. Planning on a winter trip later on, we'll post after we go.