A Tip for Streamer Fishing

Earlier this morning (yes, on July 8, 2019) I hit up a small pond that has bluegill, bass, and catfish in it.  And I wanted to pass along an observation that I learned which was the difference between this:

and this:

Yes, this small detail was the one and only thing that made the difference between catching and not catching fish.  I was throwing a small, olive wooly bugger with bead chain eyes.  It looked like this:

I saw fish in the shallows.  I saw some feeding.  I saw some guarding beds.  I saw fish towards the middle of the lake.  I was seeing fish but not catching fish on this little streamer and in my opinion, I should have been.  I had a good sink rate.  It swam well.  It looked like a little baitfish.  But I wasn't catching anything.  And then I noticed the small little detail that I was overlooking.

I noticed that I was stripping this inch long baitfish with strips that were moving it a foot or more.  I was inadvertantly using my big streamer stripping motion on a little bitty fly.  While a six inch minnow might glide through the water a foot at a time, smaller baitfish swim smaller distances and have a more erratic motion to them.  They look more like underwater squirrels in the sense that they seem to always be on edge and move in a herky-jerky, tense motion.  So when I started stripping this fly in a way that fit its profile in a more realistic way, I started to catch fish.  So when you're on the water next time and you're throwing a streamer (or any fly/lure for that matter), don't forger what you are trying to imitate and how it behaves.  I could be the difference between catching and being empty handed!