Streamer fishing

What it is

A streamer is a sub-surface fly that imitates something a predator chases or ambushes: a baitfish, a crayfish, a sculpin, a leech. With a dry fly or a nymph, the job is to let the fly drift as naturally as the insect it copies. With a streamer, the angler usually gives the fly its movement, by stripping line, by swinging the fly across the current, or by letting it tumble downstream like something injured. Orvis's retrieve lesson names all three: the strip, the swing, and the dead drift, fished the way you would fish a nymph.

It is the most active kind of fly fishing and the one closest to lure fishing. A stripped baitfish streamer does what a soft jerkbait does; a crayfish pattern crawled on the bottom does what a jig does. The water you read is the same.

Category and weight matter more than pattern names. The fly types on this page are baitfish patterns, crayfish and sculpin patterns that ride near the bottom, and the Woolly Bugger, which Kentucky's own fisheries staff name for the Cumberland River tailwater.

Basis: consensus (Orvis Streamer Retrieves lesson; KDFWR Cumberland River Tailwater page); editorial on the lure comparison

The words on this page

Fly fishing has its own vocabulary. If you have come from spinning gear, read this once and the rest reads straight through.

• Weight (of a rod or line). Fly line is heavy and the fly is nearly weightless, so the line, not the lure, bends the rod on the cast. Lines are graded by weight, and a rod is built for a matching number. A "6-weight" rod is made to cast 6-weight line. Bigger number: heavier line, bigger flies, more wind.
• Floating, sink-tip and full sinking line. A floating line sits on the surface, which is what lets you mend it. A sink-tip is a line whose front section sinks while the rest floats. A full sinking line sinks along its whole length. Makers rate how fast a line sinks in inches per second, written ips.
• Leader and tippet. The leader is the clear length between fly line and fly, thick at the butt and thin at the end so it straightens out on the cast. Tippet is the final, thinnest piece, the part you cut and retie all day.
• X sizes. Tippet is sized on a scale that runs backwards: the bigger the X number, the thinner and weaker the line. 0X is thick and strong; 6X is fine and light. Our leaders and tippet page carries the full X-size chart with diameters.
• Mend. A flip of the line upstream or downstream with the rod tip, after the cast, to change how the current pulls on it. An upstream mend slows the fly down.
• Drag. Not the reel's drag. In a river, drag is the line pulling the fly faster or slower than the current around it.
• Quartering downstream. A cast aimed across and down the current at an angle, rather than straight across. It is the starting angle for the swing.
• The line hand. The hand that is not holding the rod. It pulls the line in on the retrieve and, on a strip-set, sets the hook by pulling the line hard instead of lifting the rod.
• The hang. The end of a swing, when the fly stops crossing the current and hangs directly downstream of you.
• Generation. On a tailwater, the dam releasing water through its turbines. The river below rises when it starts.

Basis: editorial definitions of standard terms

When it wins

• Bigger water and deeper runs. Scientific Anglers' streamer article for trout, by Michael Hatfield, says larger streams and lakes are excellent places to use streamers, and that the fly has to get down into the strike zone.
• Cold water, fished slowly. Orvis's retrieve lesson says a retrieve of a couple of strips followed by a long pause works well when the water is below 50 degrees.
• Summer smallmouth in rivers. Orvis's smallmouth article says river fish stay active all day, even in the heat of summer, in rivers whose midday water stays below 75 degrees.
• Stained water, if you slow down. The Orvis lesson says to add motion so the fly stands out from debris in dirty water, but to keep the retrieve on the slow side.
• Tailwater browns. KDFWR's Cumberland River Tailwater page says the river holds trophy brown trout and that browns hit larger olive, brown or black Woolly Buggers and shad-colored streamers.

Where it loses is less well documented, and we say so: none of the maker or agency pages we read lists the conditions in which a streamer fails. Our editorial view is that it is the wrong tool when trout are feeding on one insect hatching in numbers, and in very low, clear water where a big fly landing spooks more fish than it moves.

Basis: maker (Scientific Anglers); Orvis; official (KDFWR); editorial on the limits, labelled as such

Species

Rainbow trout and brown trout in the tailwaters, where KDFWR reports trophy browns and "bountiful numbers" of rainbows below Wolf Creek Dam. Smallmouth bass in creeks and rivers; KDFWR's stream smallmouth column describes feeding smallmouth picking off disoriented crawfish, sculpins and baitfish in flowing water, which is the menu a streamer box imitates. Scientific Anglers' Sonar Titan Sink Tip page lists trout, smallmouth bass, pike, steelhead and salmon as the fish the line is built to throw streamers at. Largemouth bass eat streamers too, though no source we read for this page addresses them directly.

Basis: official (KDFWR); maker (Scientific Anglers); editorial on largemouth

Season and environment

• Winter. The Cumberland tailwater stays fishable. KDFWR's 2023 fly-fishing column says the water temperature there "never really changes much" and is cold enough for trout year-round, that trout angling "remains hot" there while winter slows most Kentucky fishing, and advises going on a warm day from December through February. In cold water, Orvis's pause retrieve is the one to start with. Stream water swings fast: a February 2024 KDFWR column records Elkhorn Creek "barely above 32 degrees" in late January and "nearly 51 degrees within four days" after rains swelled it.
• Spring. KDFWR's stream smallmouth column says that when high water recedes, stream smallmouth will be hungry, and they feed on crawfish, sculpins and baitfish in the current.
• Summer. River smallmouth stay active all day where the water stays below 75 at midday (Orvis); on lakes in midsummer the same article calls it a dawn and dusk operation. On the Cumberland tailwater, KDFWR's 2020 summer column says late-summer releases usually run highest in the afternoon and evening, and recommends wading near the dam early. Small stocked lakes are a cool-season trout fishery: KDFWR's fisheries staff said in 2020 that water temperatures generally become too warm to support trout in summer in many of the places it stocks.
• Fall. KDFWR stocked its Fishing in Neighborhoods (FINs) lakes with trout in late October and the first two weeks of November in 2020, and its column that year told fly anglers to carry smaller streamers along with midge, stonefly and egg patterns.

No maker or agency page we read gives a water-temperature band at which streamers start or stop working for trout, beyond the Orvis 50 degree note on the pause; see What we don't know yet.

Basis: official (KDFWR columns of 18 June 2020, 28 October 2020, 26 December 2023 and 12 February 2024); Orvis

Structure, cover, clarity and current

Orvis's retrieve lesson says where to put the fly in high, dirty water, when fish cannot see far: protected places along banks, behind rocks, and the seam on the inside of a bend. Its smallmouth article puts river smallmouth in eddies next to fast water and at the broad, shallow tail of a pool, and almost anywhere except very fast current. KDFWR's stream column says the current-free water in the deeper holes holds fish at rest: "these areas are the living room, not the kitchen." Fish the edges where the current brings food, not the resting water.

Clarity changes speed more than fly. In dirty water, more motion and a slower retrieve (Orvis). In shallow water, with spooky fish, Orvis suggests casting quartering downstream so the fish sees the fly before the line or leader.

Basis: Orvis; official (KDFWR)

Rod, reel and line

Beginner

A 9 foot 6-weight with a weight-forward floating line covers both trout and smallmouth. Orvis's tackle lesson says frequent streamer fishing calls for a 6- or 7-weight rod, with 4- and 5-weights workable for smaller streamers, and that a floating line works in smaller rivers and shallower water. KDFWR's 2023 column has John Hast, a KDFWR program coordinator, using "a beefier 6-weight rod for throwing Woolly Buggers." The reel holds the line and gives it to a running fish; on this kind of fishing it matters least.

Intermediate

Add a sink-tip. Orvis's lesson says a sinking-tip line "will allow you to fish more of the water where big fish hide." The makers build these lines in families of sink rates:

- Scientific Anglers Sonar Titan Sink Tip. Described by the maker as "designed for throwing streamers at trout, smallmouth bass, pike, steelhead, and salmon." Three tips: Float/Intermediate at 1.25 ips, Float/Sink 3 at 2.5 to 3.5 ips, and Float/Sink 6 at 5.5 to 6.5 ips. The sinking tip grows with line weight: 8 feet on a 5-weight, 10 on a 6, 12 on a 7, 14 on an 8, 16 on a 9. The maker's own rule for choosing: "Just below the surface? Try the Sink 3. Holding steady in the shadowy depths? Get the Sink 6." - RIO Premier StreamerTip. A floating line with a 10 foot tip, built, in RIO's words, for anglers who like to fish streamers out of a boat. The clear intermediate tip (F/I) is "for hitting the banks"; the fast-sinking tip (F/S6) is "for fishing in deeper water." ### Advanced

Choose the line by depth and current, and change it before you change the fly. The Orvis expert panel on floating line versus sink-tip splits along exactly that line. Tim Linehan uses a floater for the top six inches of walking-speed current or slower and a sink-tip to "get down and penetrate the lower half of the run." Jeff Davis keeps a floating line and a weighted fly for 12 to 36 inches and goes to a sink-tip for deep water. Joe Demalderis prefers a floating line because it mends more easily and keeps him in better contact with the fly, and gets depth with mending and a longer tippet. John Herzer rarely uses full-sinking lines or sink-tips longer than ten feet because he wants the fly in and out of the water quickly. Two good anglers can disagree here; depth, speed of current and how often you need to mend decide it.

Basis: maker (Scientific Anglers, RIO); Orvis; official (KDFWR) on the 6-weight; editorial on the default setup

Leader

Every source agrees on the direction: a long leader on a floating line, a short one on a sinking line. Scientific Anglers' Hatfield gives the reason: a shorter leader on a sinking line gives "better casting control" and lets the fly "follow the line more closely as it sinks."

The makers sell short streamer leaders. Scientific Anglers' Absolute Streamer leader is 4 feet long, in 8 to 20 lb, "designed for use with sinking lines," with a looped, heavy butt section that "helps protect the line loop and will turn over large, weighted flies." RIO's Big Nasty leader is 6 feet, in 10, 12, 16 and 20 lb, made "to cast large, heavy or air resistant flies," with a hand-tied loop in the butt.

Tippet is heavier than trout anglers expect. Orvis: "at least 3X," and 2X or even 1X with bigger flies. Hatfield: with heavy flies, shorten the leader and go to heavier tippet. Mayer, writing in MidCurrent, goes to 0X fluorocarbon on the argument, credited to John Barr, that a trout that will eat a streamer on 3X "will not shy away from a streamer on 0X fluorocarbon," and heavier tippet means fewer break-offs.

Our starting point, editorial: 9 feet ending in 2X on a floating line, 4 to 6 feet of 0X to 2X on a sink-tip.

Basis: maker (Scientific Anglers, RIO); Orvis; MidCurrent; editorial on the starting point

Terminal tackle

• Flies. Carry a weighted and an unweighted version of a baitfish pattern, a crayfish or sculpin pattern, and Woolly Buggers. KDFWR's tailwater page names olive, brown and black Woolly Buggers and shad-colored streamers for Cumberland browns; its 2023 column adds beadhead Woolly Buggers in olive, brown, and orange and black.
• Weight. Orvis's panel has John Herzer adding split shot or a worm weight, which "will give the fly a jigging action." Weight on a streamer is a retrieve choice as much as a depth choice.
• A snap or swivel. Mayer in MidCurrent describes attaching a streamer with "a loop knot or snap" behind a micro swivel. Optional; the loop knot below does the same job for most fishing.

Basis: official (KDFWR); Orvis; MidCurrent

Knots

Fly to tippet: the non-slip loop. It leaves an open loop at the hook eye instead of a knot cinched tight. Mayer in MidCurrent: the non-slip loop knot "allows the streamer to dance up, down, and side-to-side while it drifts or is stripped through a run." Its page has the steps and the wrap counts by line strength.

The alternative: the improved clinch. Mayer's other point is that a plain clinch knot pulls loose on heavy tippet because the material cannot cinch properly, and "the solution is the improved clinch knot." Use it when you want the fly held straight.

Tippet to leader: the double surgeon's.

Leader to fly line: loop-to-loop. Both makers' streamer leaders above come ready for it: RIO's Big Nasty has a hand-tied loop in the butt, and SA's Absolute Streamer has a heavy butt that protects the fly line's loop. The page linked shows how to interlock the two loops and how to spot a girth hitch before you cast.

Basis: MidCurrent; maker (RIO, Scientific Anglers)

Lure, bait or fly choices and color logic

• Cumberland tailwater browns. Olive, brown or black Woolly Buggers and shad-colored streamers, from KDFWR's own page.
• Stream smallmouth. Imitate what KDFWR says they are eating in the current: crawfish, sculpins and baitfish. Editorial: olive and brown for crayfish and sculpin, white and gray for baitfish.
• Stocked lake trout in fall. Smaller streamers, per KDFWR's 2020 column; the fish average about 10 inches.
• Dirty water. More movement and a slower retrieve (Orvis). Editorial: a darker, bulkier fly shows a silhouette.
• Clear water. Editorial: smaller, sparser and lighter-colored, cast farther.

Basis: official (KDFWR); Orvis; editorial on color, labelled in each line

How to rig it

The order below is editorial; each piece is sourced in the sections above.

1. Choose the line for the depth: floating for shallow runs and banks, a sink-tip for the lower half of a deep run.
2. Loop the leader to the fly line: about 9 feet on a floater, 4 to 6 feet on a sink-tip.
3. If the leader ends lighter than 2X, cut it back and add 2X to 0X tippet with a double surgeon's knot. Our editorial rule: cut back until the leader's end is close to the tippet's diameter, because a heavy tippet tied to a much finer point does not turn over well.
4. Tie the fly on with a non-slip loop, or an improved clinch if you want it held straight.
5. Strip a few feet of line at your feet and pull the fly through the water. A fly that spins or rides on its side is fouled or tied on crooked; fix it before you cast.

Basis: editorial sequence of sourced components

How to fish it

The retrieves

• The strip. Orvis's basic streamer retrieve: cast perpendicular to the bank and strip the fly back in short pulls of about six inches. Vary it: a slow, steady retrieve, or a couple of strips and a long pause, especially below 50 degrees. Orvis's smallmouth article says the six-inch strip often works but slower is better, because smallmouth "seem to prefer taking a fly as it is dropping"; a strip and a long pause with a weighted fly gives them that. KDFWR's John Hast fishes the Woolly Bugger on the Cumberland tailwater "just over bottom with slow strips."
• The jerk and the erratic retrieve. Scientific Anglers' Hatfield makes "an erratic swimming retrieve" his first choice, and adds that sometimes "a quick jerk followed by a pause is the ticket" and sometimes ripping the fly hard and fast works. Troutbitten's Domenick Swentosky separates the two families: strips made without moving the rod tip introduce no slack, while jigs, jerks and twitches of the rod always leave some slack as the rod recovers. That slack matters at the moment of the take.
• Change speed on one cast. Jeff Davis, on the Orvis panel, fishing water 12 to 36 inches deep, works the fly fast, then at medium speed, then slowly.
• The swing. Cast across and downstream, make an upstream mend, and let the line come tight in the current with no action added (Orvis). Hatfield casts across and slightly down and notes that many fish take at the very end of the drift. When the fly hangs below you, Orvis says to retrieve it a few feet before casting again, because fish follow it across the river.
• Upstream. Orvis: casting upstream gets the fly deeper, and the streamer flutters and pauses as you strip. Sculpins bolt downstream when frightened, so a fly moving downstream is a realistic one (Orvis).
• The dead drift. Fish the streamer like a nymph, letting the current carry it with no added action (Orvis lesson and smallmouth article).

Keep the rod tip low. Hatfield: a low rod tip close to the water keeps the streamer in the strike zone longer, and when wading he puts the tip a foot under water for the retrieve. MidCurrent's streamer fundamentals add that keeping the tip low and following the line sideways with the rod keeps slack out of the system.

The strip-set

A streamer take is set with the line hand, not by lifting the rod. Orvis's strip-strike piece puts the cost bluntly: the "trout strike" has lost "countless tarpon, snook, pike, and muskies." What the sources say:

• Be ready. Keep the fly line under the trigger finger of the rod hand so you can set quickly, and "strip-set or sweep-set" (Orvis, fishing a streamer on a floating line). MidCurrent's fundamentals give the same hand position and say the strip retrieve leaves you best placed to set, by strip or by rod sweep.
• Wait for weight. Orvis's Evan Jones: "wait until you actually feel tension on the line before performing a strip-set." He wrote it for saltwater fish; we apply it to streamers because the same reflex is the problem.
• Watch the line. In Orvis's smallmouth article, a floating line that "jumps forward or hesitates" means set the hook.
• On a dead drift downstream of you, Orvis's sink-and-swing article uses a sweep set to the downstream side, letting the line on the water do the work.

The motion, editorial: with the rod tip low and pointed at the fly, pull the line hand back hard and long, and only when you feel the fish, sweep the rod low to the side to keep the pressure on. If nothing is there, the fly has only moved a foot and is still in front of the fish.

Basis: Orvis lessons and articles; maker (Scientific Anglers); official (KDFWR); MidCurrent; Troutbitten; editorial on the strip-set motion, labelled as such

Common mistakes

• Lifting the rod on the take. The trout-strike habit pulls the fly away. Strip-set. (Orvis)
• Setting too soon. Wait for weight. (Orvis, Evan Jones)
• A long leader on a sink-tip. The fly rides up while the line sinks. Shorten it. (Scientific Anglers, Orvis)
• Tippet too light. At least 3X, heavier for bigger flies. (Orvis)
• One speed. Change the strip, the pause and the angle before you change the fly. (Orvis panel; editorial)
• Picking up at the hang. Fish follow a swung fly; retrieve it a few feet first. (Orvis)
• Casting to open water. Banks, rocks, seams and pool tails, not the middle. (Orvis)

Basis: as named in each line; editorial where marked

Kayak notes

All editorial. A kayak drifting a smallmouth creek moves with the current, so a swung fly crosses the seam more slowly than it does from a fixed position. Strip line onto the deck or into a basket between your knees rather than into the water, where the current takes it. Cast sidearm, away from the paddle. Keep the net within reach; a heavy streamer swinging beside the boat is how anglers get hooked. On the Cumberland tailwater, KDFWR says powerful current from more than one generator makes the river unsuitable for paddlers and that it suits small boats when the turbines are not running: check the schedule before launching. Mounting, anchoring and safety gear are on rigging a fishing kayak.

Basis: editorial; official (KDFWR) on the tailwater

Conventional counterpart

The jerkbait and the jig. A jerk-stripped baitfish streamer is a soft jerkbait; a crayfish pattern crawled on the bottom is a jig or a Ned rig. The swing has no exact spinning-rod twin. Water reading is identical. For line systems on both kinds of tackle, see line systems. For fishing two flies under a floating one, see dry-dropper.

Basis: editorial

In Kentucky

• Cumberland River tailwater. A major trout destination, in KDFWR's words. KDFWR calls the river below Wolf Creek Dam the home of trophy brown trout and "bountiful numbers" of rainbows, and names Woolly Buggers and shad-colored streamers for the browns. Its 2023 column has KDFWR's John Hast on a 6-weight, fishing Woolly Buggers just over bottom with slow strips, and says winter is a good season there. Safety is the first rule: KDFWR says the river "rises quickly" when generation begins and directs anglers to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District schedule for Wolf Creek Dam. Its 2020 column adds that releases in late summer run highest in the afternoon and evening, to wade near the dam early, and to mark a stick or rock on the shore and move toward the bank when the water starts rising. KDFWR's 2023 column says wade fishing is the safest option unless you are experienced at boating this river, and to wear neoprene waders in winter. The rules on this river are its own; read them on the water page and on our rainbow trout guide before you keep a fish.
• Lake Cumberland. KDFWR's own writing names the trout river for the lake: its 2020 column is titled "Wade the Lake Cumberland tailwater" and describes "the cold waters of the Cumberland River below Lake Cumberland." For most anglers, Lake Cumberland trout means that tailwater. Whether the lake itself holds a fishable trout population for a streamer angler today is Status pending: KDFWR's research bulletin list includes "Evaluation of the Two Story Trout Fishery in Lake Cumberland" (Bulletin 060), but the bulletin is a scanned image we could not read in this run, and no current KDFWR page we read describes trout fishing in the lake.
• Elkhorn Creek. Central Kentucky's smallmouth stream. KDFWR describes it as a good barometer of stream smallmouth in the state, rated excellent for smallmouth in the 2019 forecast. Its stream column describes the feeding fish taking crawfish, sculpins and baitfish in the current, with the deep slack holes as resting water, and names cork and deer hair poppers on a fly rod. A streamer is the sub-surface version of that same menu (editorial). The creek's KDFWR page publishes recommended gauge levels and the access sites, including which allow wading and which do not; check both before a trip. The water page covers the slot limit.
• FINs lakes. KDFWR created the Fishing in Neighborhoods program in 2006, and its lakes are stocked with rainbow trout. Its 2020 column said the trout average about 10 inches and half a pound, and told fly anglers to carry smaller streamers. The FINs page, read 18 October 2026, says the lakes "are regularly stocked with catfish and rainbow trout throughout the year," prints a daily limit of 5 rainbow trout, says "No culling of trout," and says "Resident/Nonresident fishing license holders must purchase a Trout Permit to possess Rainbow Trout." We have no published water page for a FINs lake yet; KDFWR's FINs page has the list and the stocking schedule link.

Basis: official (KDFWR Cumberland River Tailwater page; KDFWR columns of 18 June 2020, 28 October 2020 and 26 December 2023; KDFWR stream smallmouth column; KDFWR Elkhorn Creek page; KDFWR Fishing In Neighborhoods page, read 18 October 2026; KDFWR Fisheries Research Bulletins list); editorial where marked

What we don't know yet

• Temperature bands. No maker or agency page we read gives the water temperatures at which trout start or stop chasing streamers. The only figures on this page are Orvis's 50 degree note on the pause retrieve, Orvis's 75 degree midday limit for summer river smallmouth, and KDFWR's Elkhorn readings. Status pending.
• Lake Cumberland's own trout. See above. KDFWR Bulletin 060 could not be read as text. Status pending.
• Makers' leader advice for their own sink-tips. Neither the SA Sonar Titan Sink Tip page nor the RIO Premier StreamerTip page states a leader length. The 4 and 6 foot figures come from the makers' streamer leader pages, SA's article and Orvis.
• A maker's strip-set instruction. We found no strip-set instruction from Scientific Anglers or RIO. The strip-set guidance on this page is from Orvis, MidCurrent and Troutbitten, plus our editorial description of the motion.
• KDFWR on streamers for Elkhorn. No KDFWR page we read discusses fly-rod streamers on Elkhorn Creek specifically.
• Turbine numbers. KDFWR's 2020 column says 45 on the TVA schedule is one turbine; its 2023 column says 40. We print neither; read the current schedule and its own key.

Skill level

Intermediate, with a beginner's entry. The casting is harder than with dry flies (heavier flies, sink-tips, wind), and the strip-set has to replace the trout habit of lifting the rod. A 6-weight, a floating line, a 9 foot leader ending in 2X and a few olive and black Woolly Buggers are a complete way to start.

Basis: editorial

Sources and how confident we are

Section	Basis	Confidence
Lines and sink rates	Maker (SA, RIO); Orvis	High
Leader and tippet	Maker (SA, RIO); Orvis; MidCurrent	High on direction; sources give a range
Retrieves	Orvis; SA article; Troutbitten	High
Strip-set	Orvis; MidCurrent; editorial motion	Medium
Seasons and temperature	KDFWR; Orvis	Medium; few figures
Kentucky waters	KDFWR	High; Lake Cumberland itself pending

Sources

• Sonar Titan Sink Tip — Scientific Anglers — built for streamers at trout and smallmouth; sink rates of the three tips; tip length by line weight; Sink 3 or Sink 6 by depth.
• Absolute Streamer Leader — Scientific Anglers — 4 ft, 8 to 20 lb, for sinking lines, heavy butt.
• Streamer Tactics For Trout — Scientific Anglers (Michael Hatfield, 16 February 2015) — larger streams and lakes; shorter leader on a sinking line and why; heavier tippet for heavy flies; erratic retrieve, jerk and pause, ripping; across and slightly down; takes at the end of the drift; low rod tip.
• Premier StreamerTip — RIO (Far Bank) — 10 ft tips; F/I for the banks, F/S6 for deeper water; built for fishing streamers from a boat.
• Big Nasty Leader — RIO (Far Bank) — 6 ft, 10 to 20 lb, for large, heavy or air-resistant flies, loop in the butt.
• Tackle for Streamer Fishing — Orvis — 6 or 7 weight, 4 or 5 for small streamers; floating versus sink-tip; 9 ft and 6 ft leaders; tippet at least 3X, 2X or 1X for bigger flies.
• Streamer Retrieves — Orvis — six-inch strips, the pause below 50 degrees, the swing with an upstream mend, the dead drift, upstream casts, retrieving after the hang, dirty water, where to cast.
• Ask the Experts: Floating Line or Sinking Tip for Streamers? — Orvis News — the panel: Linehan, Davis, Demalderis, Herzer and others on depth, leaders, mending and retrieve speed.
• Finding and Catching Smallmouths — Orvis — 75 degrees, all-day river fish, lake dawn and dusk, eddies and pool tails, strip and pause, takes on the drop, watching the line.
• Video Pro Tips: How to Fish a Streamer on a Floating Line — Orvis News (Phil Monahan, 14 October 2021) — line under the trigger finger; strip-set or sweep-set.
• Video Pro Tip: Be Ready to Strip Strike! — Orvis News (Phil Monahan, 25 September 2024) — the cost of the trout strike.
• Stream to Salt V: Timing the Strip Set — Orvis News (Evan Jones, 2022) — wait for tension before the strip-set.
• Classic Pro Tips: How to Use the Sink-and-Swing to Get Streamers Deep — Orvis News (Phil Monahan) — the downstream sweep set on a dead drift.
• Rigging Streamers for Trout Fishing — MidCurrent (Landon Mayer) — 7 to 8 ft leaders on sinking lines, 8 to 11 on floating; 0X fluorocarbon and the Barr argument; improved clinch for heavy tippet; non-slip loop; swivel and snap.
• Fly Fishing: Fundamentals of Streamer Fishing — MidCurrent (Gunnar Brammer) — line under the rod hand's fingers; strip retrieve and hook setting; low rod tip followed sideways.
• Streamer Presentations — Strips, Jigs and Jerks — Troutbitten (Domenick Swentosky) — strips leave no slack; rod-tip jigs and jerks do.
• Cumberland River Tailwater — KDFWR — trophy browns and rainbows; Woolly Buggers and shad-colored streamers; the river rises quickly; Corps schedule; generation and paddlers.
• Fall Fishing Festival: Fly fishing the Cumberland tailwater — KDFWR (Lee McClellan, 26 December 2023) — 6-weight for Woolly Buggers; slow strips just over bottom; water temperature steady and cold year-round; winter; wading and waders.
• Wade the Lake Cumberland tailwater to beat the heat and catch fish — KDFWR (Lee McClellan, 18 June 2020) — afternoon and evening releases; wade early; mark the shoreline.
• Fall for trout all over again — KDFWR (Lee McClellan, 28 October 2020) — FINs fall stocking timing; fish size; smaller streamers; summer water too warm.
• Fishing In Neighborhoods — KDFWR — stocking, daily limit, no culling, trout permit; read 18 October 2026.
• Stream smallmouth love May — KDFWR (Lee McClellan) — feeding on crawfish, sculpins and baitfish; resting water; poppers on a fly rod; Elkhorn as barometer and its 2019 rating.
• Kentucky Afield Outdoors: Catch your trophy in February — KDFWR (Lee McClellan, 12 February 2024) — Elkhorn Creek temperatures in late January and after rain.
• Elkhorn Creek — KDFWR — smallmouth; recommended river levels; access sites and where wading is allowed.
• Fisheries Research Bulletins — KDFWR — Bulletin 060, Evaluation of the Two Story Trout Fishery in Lake Cumberland (title only; the scan could not be read).

Related

Species

• Smallmouth bass
• Rainbow trout
• Largemouth bass

Techniques

• Ned rig
• Jig
• Poppers and topwater flies

Knots

• Non-slip loop
• Double surgeon's
• Loop-to-loop

Line

• Leaders and tippet
• Line systems

Waters

• Cumberland River tailwater
• Elkhorn Creek