Streamer "inclination"?

[OldBaldGuy]

As I was tying a streamer this week, the thought occurred to me while wrapping wire around the shaft: "Hey, wait a minute. Every sick or crippled fish you've ever seen, whether it was out in the wild or in your little 5-gallon aquarium, swam with his head up and his tail dragging. Why aren't you weighting this streamer so that it rides 'tail-down' so that it looks more vulnerable?"

I've been tying flies now for almost a month and a half, so my guess is that I'm not the first person to wonder about this. Is tail-weighting something everyone does, something everyone rejects after they gain eight weeks of experience, something done only on special occasions?

[DG]

I don't normally fish streamers like dying aquarium fish: slow, lazy, losing control of bouyancy. I generally fish em as if they were just stupid healthy fish. Swim swim OH NO RUN AWAY!!!!!

So I don't weight mine tail heavy, but most of them evenly.

[DShock]

I don't think the minnow has to be sick or injured to be eaten. I've seen brown trout following a school of chub, just waiting for one of them to get out of line.
As long as your tying YOUR flies, then experiment with a rear weighted fly. But remember you have to cast it and you don't want the fly to be too heavy.
Doug

[lee s]

OBG,
Dave Sellars over at http://www.danblanton.com/bulletin.php
has developed a bug to do just exactly as you say. We got some in the box. It does work grand. It does take a bit of fiddling to concoct. I'm sure he would be glad to "enlighten" you.
Maybe it would be a good FOTW project.....?
.....lee s.

[peregrines]

Making a fly look especially vulnerable seems to be pretty effective sometimes--- down wing cripples, shucks etc on dries for example. Some folks believe in eyes and a bit of red on streamers because they believe it helps trigger strikes. Erratic retrieves also seem to work well. So you may be on to something.

But too much rear weight may cause it to sink tail first on the pause and material be pulled "against the grain" as it fell backwards (and maybe getting wrapped around the hook bend if you've got a tail on it), as opposed to a head weighted fly that would be "darting" to the bottom, or mid weighted fly that would sink sort of intact when you pause? You could tie up a few and drop them in the tub to see what happens.

Hook point more likely to snag on the bottom too I think, but a reverse tie could fix that.

I have seen some patterns tied rear weighted that way, like shrimp and crab patterns tied hook up.

Some saltwater guys tie up sliders "sideways" so it looks like a fish flopping around the surface on its side.

Good luck.

peregrines

[lee s]

The stuff we been useing out here is like adding a rear extension to the hookshank and adding a bit of lead, all of which is covered by the "tail" of the deceiver or......
Like wanting only enough weight in a clouser to make it dip, you want only enough weight to make it rear dip. VERY effective baitfish immi, for sure. But like ALL else, not the full set of keys to the kingdom.

[dudley]

My favorate smallmouth fly is the Clouser Crippled Minnow.
The tail is marabou tied full for plenty of action.
Yarn body.
The head and collar are deer hair tyed like an exaggerated diver.
The fly is not meant to dive though, it floats on the surface on the hair collar and head, while the marabou tail waves tantalizingly below
This is not a well known fly, but it's very effective.

[Night Angler]

OldBaldGuy


Great IDEA... I know what you mean..

when I do fish the daylight hours..I see this sometimes... I'll tye a fly like you suggested.. and when I try it.. I take a picture of the fish I catch...

Watch out DG... here comes a 3 picture of that 12# rainbow I caught 3 years ago...LOL...

[CM_Stewart]

Traditional featherwing streamers and bucktails tend to ride tail down anyway, since the wing is tied in at the head and is tied at a slight upward angle. Longer shank hooks, whether 6x or even the 8x Mustad 94720 accentuate that tendency.

Instead of weighting the streamer, consider a sinking leader or sink tip line.

[lee s]

Not sure a sink tip or a sinking leader would give him the "squatting" effect he desires....?