Rays post on the Edson Tigers made me think about fishing the classic hairwing streamers. The first ones to come to mind are the black nose dace, Mickey Finn, Edson Tigers, the little brown trout (and the others in that series), the Llama, etc.
Of all of them, and I have all of them in my trout stuff, I have fished the Mickey Finn the most, and have done the best with it, but have fished it mostly for warm water fish. I suppose fishing it more than the others may explain having done better with it than the others.
My question is how many of you fish these classic streamers, and how have they done?
I actually hope to fish them more often in the coming year, and plan to do so by tying a set for my warmwater, read that “panfish”, boxes. To my eye, these classic streamers just exude class, and as some of the most attractive flies in the box.
Gandolf, streamers and bucktails have stood the test of time and will continue to be productive. Take photos when you cast them, we want to see all the fish they will take
The Mickey Finn pattern I use is the one out of the “American Fly Tying Manual” by Dave Hughes and is as follows:
Hook: Streamer hook (I like the Mustad 79580)
Thread: Black
Body: Silver Tinsel (I use smooth tinsel, but the pattern lists embossed)
Underwing: Yellow bucktail
Mid-wing: Red bucktail
Overwing: Yellow bucktail
I try to keep the color bands as clean as possible, trying to keep the color bands from being mixed.
For bluegills, most of the streamers I tie are #10s and #12s, and I tie them on shorter hooks, normally using a Mustad 9672. Thus when I tie as set for bluegills and hopefully for crappie, they will be those smaller sizes.
Thanks for responding! I will just have to tie some up in that color combination and give them a try on my local waters. I am also going to tie some up with the mid-wing being green since we have some perch minnows in our rivers and the spinner fishermen are usually throwing a crankbait in perch colors for the bass and claim that they are also catching trout.
Micky Finns are a must have pattern in Nova Scotia. The brookies love them, and people catch Atlantics on them as well. I use them here in New Zealand, and they take rainbows and browns. I tie them as you do, but also include a silver wire rib. Last year I got word that a Micky Finn tied with a black body was the hot ticket on some rivers in Nova Scotia, so I have a few of those at the ready as well.
I quite like squirrel tail streamers as well. I’m quite fond of cossebooms and blue charms. I’ve tied some squirrel tail versions of popular New Zealand flies, like parson’s glory (my version is a yellow tail, yellow floss body, silver rib, fox squirrel tail wing, and ginger hackle collar). Have taken some fish on that as well.
Thanks for giving me even more options to tie up and try! I think what I like most is that it does not take a “lot of rod” to fish them. I will have to give squirrel tail streamers a go to…Thanks for sharing…
The Llama is my “go to” streamer. It works better for me than anything else. Second best is the Grizzly King. I prefer using these than more “modern” streamers which do not seem to work very well for me.
Hi Gandolf:
This seems like an appropriate time to confess that I have emphisized the use of streamers, soft hackles and bass poppers ever since I started over 50 years ago. The reason being that with poor eyesight I have a problem following dries. I certrainly never could catch as many as the dry fly fishers during a hatch but I was content.
I seem to remember that you had mentioned that in the past, but you have obviously found a way to keep fly fishing without the battle of seeing the fly. I think that there is something to be said for that. The other day one of the really good fishermen at work told me that I needed to stop using a fly rod and go back to a spinning rod if I want to catch more fish (warm water species.) I told him that I really enjoyed fly fishing, and catching less fish was one of the prices I had to pay at times.
But when it comes to trout, I mostly fish small streams, so usually seeing the fly is not a big problem since I may only make a 15 or 20 foot cast and most of the time don’t even cast that far, but do find it is harder to see the fly than it used to be.
Still, friend Kevin and I have discussed midges, and we both think that they would be almost impossible for either of us to see, so I only have a minimal number of midges in my box. It would have to be a desperate situtation for me to put one on. I don’t wade into places that I once did either. I have figured out that I’m not 20 anymore, and so am more careful.
Hope things are going well for you.
Warren, keep us informed how using the green in the pattern works!
Y’all all need to remember that a “Clouser” is nothing more that a bucktail streamer with lead eyes… the first of which were made by Tom Schumuecker, the owner of WAPSI. (who by the way is a great guy and friend to fly tyers /fly fishing!). As Tom developed the first dumbbell-lead eyes, there are number of us who feel strongly that this style of flies should be called “Schumueckers”.
By the way, if ya’ like classic streamers, then read “Bucktails & Streamers-the Big Fish Flies” by Joseph D. Bates Jr. First printed in 1950-reprinted several times since. This book contains a great treatise on the origins and history of the Mickey Finn, as well as Carrie G. Stevens’ patterns, Blondes, tube flies, and a host of other classic streamers.
I’m 63 now. And suddenly can’t see the small dry flies any more. So I fish them behind something bigger and bushier, that I can see. This is the Hopper/Dropper concept expanded to a variety of bigger flies. You can fish an invisible midge (wet or dry) behind a Royal Wulff, Foam Grasshopper or even a bigger Blue Winged Olive that has a white post wing. You spot the big fly right away and then watch 24" beyond that. Set when you see the swirl. On Montana’s Missouri, where the blue winged olives are hatching right now, a foam grasshopper will typically catch only one or two fish all day long. Both will be brown trout, often the two biggest fish of the day. The dry fly or soft-hackle drifing 24" beyond the hopper will take dozens of rainbows (and a few browns)-at least right now, because the hatch is on.
