By Jimmy Harris, Unicoi Outfitters
Estrip! Estrip! Estrip, Yimmy!
My friend and guide Eduardo saw the fish, quickly ascertained its attitude and began frantically coaching me to give the fly action imitating an escaping baitfish. WHAM! The shock of the strike traveled up my line, through the rod and into my hands. No doubt about it, the big brown was intent on slashing and killing his prey. Streamer fishing isn’t for the weak of heart.
This trip was to the northern reaches of Argentine Patagonia where the trout are healthy and hungry. However, you don’t have to make a trip out of the country to see what streamer fishing is all about. Fall in North Georgia and Western North Carolina offer up some exciting streamer fishing close to home.
Most anglers, when they think of streamer fishing, conjure up images of brown trout running up the Madison River for the fall spawn. Big flies for big fish, not many numbers. In fact, a day with a skunk is quite frequent. But, when you do connect, you recall why you’re there doing it in the first place. This isn’t a numbers game; it’s a size game when you’re trophy hunting for something rare and worthy of your full attention.
While I don’t advocate fishing for trout on a redd trying to spawn and create the next generation of fish, the run up to the spawn can be an action-packed time for aggressive fish. You need to know where to anticipate fish holding, but there isn’t much finesse required. Just keep your fly working over likely fish environs as much as possible.
It will be up to you to determine what kind of action to impart on your fly. Often it can actually be a dead drift with no action other than that of the current on a dead baitfish. You may start out with a series of short strips, 6 inches or less, with an intermittent pause to see if a following fish might pounce on it. Or, the fish may only be interested in something they think is about to get away, so you franticly “Estrip, estrip, estrip!”
For gear, you want to be ready for the best case scenario, meaning the ability to handle a big fish. Conditions could call for a 6, 7 or 8 wt. rod with floating, intermediate or full sinking line. To be honest, full sinking lines aren’t much fun in a river full of rocks, but there are situations where it’s mandatory in order to get your fly in the zone. If you’re wading a good size river, you may want to try a 6 or 7 weight spey rod for all the repetitive casting you’ll be doing.
Streamer fishing isn’t only for big browns. When you find rainbows measured in pounds, you’ll know they are looking for those calorie packed meals just as are their brown relatives. In this region of the country, we’ve got some excellent streams on which to try streamer fishing. The obvious one in Georgia is the Chattahoochee River near Atlanta, but the Toccoa tailwater gives up some big fish on streamers also. The Chattooga River DH as well as the general regulation sections has some good holdover or wild browns as well as rainbows that can be suckered in by a big streamer. North of the state line, the streams in and around Cherokee certainly qualify as does the Tuckaseegee and the Nantahala Rivers.
There are some good books available on streamer fishing as well as thousands of online articles. Serious streamer anglers can almost be cult-like in their single-mindedness toward swinging for big fish. There is a lot to learn, but the learning is fun. I hope you’ll give it a try soon. If you would like more information on streamer fishing, give Unicoi Outfitters a call, or better yet, stop in and see us. We love sharing information that can help you become a better angler.