Spring is Great Streamer Fishing in Colorado

Spring is Great Streamer Fishing in Colorado

Even with a 120% snowpack in Colorado, it seems that spring has come a bit early this year.  I guess that’s why we live in paradise! Now is the time to start dusting off the 3-4wt. Dry-fly rods and the 6-7 wt. streamer rods.  When water temperatures are in that mid 40-degree level trout seem to enjoy chasing streamers as much as they like eating dries.  There are many anglers among us who find that streamer fishing as mystery.  It’s not really a mystery as much as an understanding of what makes a Trout want to eat or not eat another fish. True there is a certain mentality that makes some people better streamer fishers that others.  Spring is Great Streamer Fishing in Colorado

Understanding that as a streamer angler you are preying on a Trout’s predatory and territorial instincts helps put me into the proper mind-set.  Strikes on a retrieved streamer can be explosive! Typically, when a trout reaches a certain size they require much more protein and that protein comes in the form of another smaller fish. This is where fly fishing and traditional spin fishing cross paths. Just like any other situation I do fish more than 1 streamer. The retrieve on a streamer is the key to getting strikes. At this point I tell my angler that you want to imitate an injured/distressed prey.  The key to retrieve is the pause between strips. I can never emphasize enough that the pause must be a long pause.  Painfully long pause followed by a fast-long strip. Most times the Trout will attack a streamer when it’s not moving but sitting or sinking between strips. Often, I see after teaching someone to lift to set the hook, now it’s all about the strip set and keeping the rod tip low.

Streamers are fished on much heavier leaders and tippets so horsing a big fish is rarely an issue.  Streamers are considered the best of the “searching” patterns, because your fly is covering much more water than a traditional dry or nymph rig would. Most times when I come to a river I have not fished before and there no signs of bugs or rising fish, then I break out a Streamer rig.  This is a great time of year to make the commitment to the streamer program.  Trust me you won’t be disappointed.