STREAMER SEASON
- Posted on
- By MP
Streamer season on the North Platte is here folks! Let's talk about it.
One of things that I think has always drawn me to fishing, hunting, all the outdoor pursuits, and living in a place with four seasons is the connection to the landscape and seasonal flow. You get excited about what each one brings. Even if some of those shifts are from nice summer days to brutal cold and wind. There are perks and silver linings to embrace in each. The shift from summer to fall is really easy to get excited about. It is a culmination of all our favorite things. The all you can buffet special of Wyoming. From some of the best fishing of the season to following bird dogs across wide open prairies’, elk screaming, and cupped up mallards. What to do, what to do? I say do em’ all.
Part of the fall bucket lists includes busting out the streamer rods and big old fly boxes stuffed with gaudy streamer creations. They are just fun. Cool names: Butt monkeys, ‘Dungeons, Ditch Witch, Rusty’s, Sparring Partner, Swim Coach, and the list goes on. Tying them is fun. Let the inner muse go. Double articulated, big hooks, big thread and flashy wild materials. This is not little drab boring stuff with magnifier for those like myself that are getting the smack of reality that age is creeping up and readers are a part of fly-fishing. You can only Peter Pan so long and it still gets you.
The fish in the fall can be tuned in to looking for some bigger meals. There are plenty of little crawdads in the system. With the bugs getting smaller later in the season, it is also a calories in for calories out and the best bang for the buck for the fish, and especially some of the larger fish, is to get a little more predatory in their diet. The browns, always elusive and less in numbers in our waters, are also getting territorial and grabby as their spawn approaches. This all equates to a good time to mix it up and streamer fish.
Having a variety of sizes, colors, and weight (including sink tip lines) will help narrow down what the hot ticket for the day is. Some of the smaller streamers that are closer to the size of some of the crawdads should be on the radar. Varying retrieve speed, and strip cadence matters to help crack the code. Where nymphing and dry fly mending and dead drift is the presentation. Your retrieve is more of the presentation. That is a component of streamer I enjoy. I feel like I’m hunting them and that grab. So get out there and start hunting.
