Trout Fishing: How to set up a streamer rig?
I typically fish dries and double nymph rigs. What does your leader and tippet setup look like for effective streamer fishing for trout?
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by BawceHog
I use 9 ft 2x tapered leader for most normal days. If I am going after big stuff I may take it up to 0x but not usually necessary. Tippet I use a matching 2x or whatever you have setup. Big thing will be a sink tip line or a full sink line. I would go with a sink tip first to get started and then graduate to heavier lines from there. I use rio and airflo but there are other good ones as well. Ask a person at the shop to set you up for getting started with streamers and he/she should be able to get you going.
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by streamerjunkie_0909
Thanks for the response. From what I've gathered, 9ft is pretty long for streamers isn't it? I've read a common length is 3-4ft even. Also, you mention 2X tippet. Do you tie on a tippet section on the end of your 9ft leader?
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by BawceHog
Haha yeah I do. And I catch fish. But I make the tippet section pretty small. I guess I use 7.5 sometimes also. But I have tried shorter leader and I went back. Just my preference is all. Pretty much all I do is streamer fish though unless it’s dry fly season. I have heard from shop guys that they don’t even use tippet sometimes. I stick with what works for me.
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by streamerjunkie_0909
14” of 20 pound and 20” of 16 pound. Mono or fluoro is fine. Step it down to 12 pound and go longer if you’re using a smaller streamer.
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by mi_dogman
If you were to use a premade tapered leader, what would you use?
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by BawceHog
I add a sink tip to a floating line and follow it up with about 6-8 feet of 6lb fluoro. Not much need for tapered leader with sink tips and heavy streamers.
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by McSluter
Great, thanks. If you were to use a float line and no sink tip, what would your setup be?
Also, is 6lb fluoro 1X or 0x?
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by BawceHog
Without the sink tip I would still run straight fluoro without a tapered leader. If it didn’t sink fast enough I would add a split shot,
Regarding the size of fluoro, the X rating is diameter and the other is strength so it’s not a good conversion, but I would say 6lb is about 3X, maybe 2X. With streamers you can run a little heavier line.
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by McSluter
7.5' 1x leader, but usually I just make a leader out of a 3-5' piece of 1x tippet. Be closer to the 3' length if you're using really heavy streamers..the fly will turn itself over just fine due to the weight.
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by Fidel_Castroll
OK great. I like the idea of using 3-5' of 1X. Do you tie a perfection look for the line to leader connection?
Also, float line or sink line/tip?
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by BawceHog
Yes, perfection loop. I typically use floating line on the rivers I fish, but sink tip also works very well. I rarely use a full sinking line unless I'm fishing lakes. My personal experience with sinking line on rivers is that your line plummets to the bottom and gets caught on every rock, branch, etc. A heavy streamer will sink just fine with floating or sink tip line on most rivers.
Edit: Most rivers I fish are 4ft to 15ft deep. If you're fishing 30-40ft rivers with fish holding deep then you'll obviously want a full sink line.
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by Fidel_Castroll
Great info. I generally fish in the south east but also sometimes Colorado so I don’t think the sink line will be necessary in most places.
What would consider a “big” streamer.
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by BawceHog
I keep a roll of 12lb and 20lb flouro in my bag these days instead of buying and using up tapered leaders. Cheaper and less bother.
I usually use about a 6' leader with a few more feet for tippet. Sometimes I don't even bother with tippet, which is really handy if you've got full sink line on dredging the bottom. Much easier to brute force a snag loose than try and get it off without snapping the tippet.
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by pspahn
When using 12lb or 20lb flouro, are you doing around 6ft of it straight to the streamer?
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by BawceHog
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