Question on streamer chucking...

[Gavin]

It's the habits of the big brown trout. Little dinks try to eat most everything any time like rainbows. Bigger Browns like low light. Morning bite is usually better, but evenings sometimes. Usually takes a day or two to figure out the timing. It is Rare to catch a brown over 20" mid day unless the water is up. Odds go way down for every cast you make, know we're they live and make your first cast count. Be first or stay late. It's a reaction bite mostly. Rainbows are not great streamer fish, curios, but tail nippers mostly. They rarely go for the head.

[Al Agnew]

I agree with Gavin that the smaller rainbows are followers and tail nippers, but when you put it in front of a big one that's in the mood...

If I'm wading, I tend to fish nymphs or dries wading upstream, and then when I go back down I try streamers.  I like fishing them downstream, letting them swing.  I also tend to concentrate more in slower water with the streamers.  I don't enjoy trying to fish nymphs in slow water, even though there are fish in it.  You can fish a streamer in any kind of water.

[tjm]

That is curious, I think  I have taken as many dinky rainbows on streamers as on any kind of fly. Up north east 3 1/2" shiners were the favorite live bait for rainbow in lakes.

[Nortrad]

Landed a decent rainbow last year on a streamer among the Islands, cream colored Mike Schmidt variation.

[tjm]

So, in line with this question, roostertail is fly by Mo. definition and catches a fair number of rainbow in the parks (I don't know if they work other places); why do these work if small-medium rainbow won't take streamers ? They are bigger than many streamers and have basically the same shape.

And is a beadhead woolybugger a streamer or a jig?