2. Why should you fish streamers? (2 of 20)

You can catch big trout on nymphs and dry flies, but most experienced anglers know that to catch the biggest trout in the river, you need to fish big flies. Large trout don't feed as often as smaller trout. And they may feed only once a day or even once every few days. When they leave their protected lies to feed, unless a heavy hatch is in progress, they're more likely to look for bigger morsels they can capture with less energy, baitfish, frogs, mice, and large crayfish.
So we're in down East Maine on Grand Lake Stream, home of 20th-century streamer fishing. A lot of the classic patterns that came out of the streamer world came from here. Things like the gray ghost and various buck tales. Some of these flies were designed to be cast in rivers, but a traditional way to fish streamers is also to troll them behind a slow moving canoe.
Although these flies are still effective nearly anywhere, we've come a long way in streamer development with many exciting new fly patterns and techniques. So you wouldn't think in 44 degree water that a fish would come up for something, especially something as big as a streamer. But I had thrown a streamer into that fast water earlier.
Soon as it hit the water, fish came up and rolled on it and didn't take it. And then I fished, and fished, and fished and didn't catch anything. So I came up here to this faster water, which common sense tells you that there shouldn't be fish in here when water is this cold, they should be in the deep, slow water. But sure enough, there was this pretty brook trout up there that ate a good size streamer.
♪ [music] ♪ Ah, look at those spots ♪ [music] ♪