Tying Streamers

With the rivers blown out and the Christmas decorations complete, it is time to get on the vise for trips to the river. Below are just a couple patterns we will be using in the upcoming weeks.

Fish Skull Generic Shad

I saw a variation of this pattern on a local message board. The head is a small Fish Skull. Daniel at Little River Outfitters "added these to an order" (said hey check these out) and I finally had time to put them to use on the bench. The white tail is marabou and the front collar is a white rabbit strip.

This fly should be productive on high water, from the boat with sinking line and good for wading, on falling water with a floating line. The head will break the water and the collar will give it a more full body that should push some water when stripped. There won't be as much side to side action, however the marabou tail will give it some rear end wiggle. If you tie and use it, let me know how it works.

Articlutaed Thunder Rooster

This fly takes longer to tie and should be good for streamer fishing from the boat. For some tips on tying with articulation see Tying Articulated Streamers (just some basics) .

Add white marabou and yellow marabou to the trailing hook. Attach the rear hook to the front. Tie in the skirt with the flashabou and then add the white and yellow marabou to the front hook. Add some pearl eyes, to help get the fly down when it lands in the water. I added the eyes further to the rear, because big fish eat their food head first and to aid with keeping the fish "on" as they get closer to the boat. Add red marabou to the bottom and trim. The last material to add is the rabbit strip, tied in forward of the eyes and then brought over top of the eyes and secured behind the eyes. Whipfinish and then fish it.