Thursday, May 6, 2010

The Days They Eat...

So for those of you that have done a lot of streamer fishing you come to understand that if you are going to be a streamer fisherman you are going to have to be the "Eternal Optimist." By that I mean that if you don't believe that every time you go out you have a chance at a good day or at the very least at getting a few good fish, then you probably aren't going to make it as a streamer fisherman.

Likewise, you have to have the resolve of a wily old veteran when hucking junk, because you have to know that on that next cast that there is going to be a fish, because if you don't believe in yourself, you are going to botch the cast, or worse yet, put the cast in the right spot and not be ready for the strike. No matter how many hundreds of perfect casts that you put in the perfect spot with no action, you have to believe that next cast is going to matter and you have to be ready to make it count. Otherwise, you might as well go back to fishing nymphs and dries and zone out.
Yesterday was one of those days, the fishing in the morning was slow, putting every cast in the exact spot, working it into small pockets you wouldn't normally risk putting a fly, but $#!+ you're throwing meat on 20lb test so no worries, but getting no love. Nothing for the first couple of hours, in fact the first couple of hours you would have sworn there weren't fish in the river as we worked good water with no luck.

Then mother nature flips on the proverbial light switch and the activity picks up and all of a sudden fish are coming out from all the likely places and munching. Those are the days that you live for with fish chowing on every size and color of streamer that you put in front of their face. Those days it doesn't matter if you aren't putting a bunch of 24ers in the boat, it's just fun watching them chase and eat - aggression is the name of the game...

5 comments:

RH said...

Thanks! Needed to hear this...

Unknown said...

This was a great post. I use to streamer fish all the time. When I moved away from Bozeman I lost the passion. I got back into this winter and go hooked again. Since spring has started I have not had nearly as much action and tend to start the day with junk just to give up shortly. This post has motivated me to stay with it and be more dedicated the the JUNK.

A said...

Very true. One day can be a complete bust and another can be amazing. I was fishing the Stone on New Years, which for you solunar table followers happened to be on a blue moon, where I ripped into 3 browns on my first 7 casts averaging 20 inches each on none other than an olive sex dungeon.. (thanks troutfitters). I'll chuck and duck giant streamers until my arm is tired for another day like that

Unknown said...

I was fishing the Madison after I read and commented on this blog. Frustration started to set in and I pushed through it. I reeled in to change out my streamer, just to remember reading this blog. I pulled my line out and gave one more cast. BOOM a very energetic 6 pound brown. ALl thanks to this blog.

Kris Kumlien said...

love to hear from everyone that they enjoy reading this and even more so that it's helped a few further along into their streamer addiction... and Chris, it's just like that my man, sometimes when you persevere good things happen!