By William A. Sodeman, Jr., MD, JD
Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout
New Techniques, Tactics and Patternsby Bob Linsenman and Kelly Galloup
The Countryman Press, 160 pages, hardback, illustrated,
$34.95.
ISBN # 0-8815-0466-1
In Great Britain they call them ferox and treat them as if they are a different subspecies of brown trout. In fact they are just big brown trout. Their anadromadous strains, the English sea trout who sojourn at sea, are just big brown trout. Other genera and species acquire this curious appreciation by anglers of a changed fish, witness steelhead, coasters, and squaretails. They are all just big trout. This book is about hunting big trout in rivers and streams.
Ferox and steelhead and coasters and sea trout are big water fish but there are big trout that never migrate beyond their natal rivers and streams. Each year at each fly shop on the Au Sable there is a slowly growing list of 20+ inch fish taken on the hatch of the moment. Those are lucky catches because generally the small trout are feeding on the hatch and the big trout are feeding on the small trout not directly on the hatch itself. The odd leviathan will rise to the fly. I snatch an occasional Moon Pie or Goo Goo cluster in memory of my childhood.
Big trout become alpha predators in their ecosystem. They are at the top of the piscine food chain. To maintain the weight and condition necessary to remain an alpha predator they must change their behavior. They change where they rest and where and how they feed. You just cannot maintain a 20+ inch trout in prime condition on a diet of mayfly nymphs and duns. You cannot, with any regularity, catch them by matching the hatch either, the Hex hatch excluded.
Linsenman and Galloup make a powerful case for catching these big trout by hunting them with streamer flies. The streamer fly, in England called a lure, matches the big trout’s preferred prey, sculpin, dace, juvenile trout and crayfish. These are big flies, a Carrie Stevens hook is 10X long, heavy wire and as large as 2/0, but not simple ties. The tying recipes are clearly presented and the accompanying color illustrations excellent but these are largely flies for the skilled tyer. Even if you do not tie the descriptions will help you discriminate among fly shop selections.
Fly in hand, you still need to find fish. The discussion on reading the water will redirect your efforts toward productive lies. The illustrations are clearly done and effectively used to make the text meaningful. I found this a relief in a world where many how to books use illustrations as filler.
The third essential element is fishing the lie. The change in angler’s behavior needed to properly fish these flies is a radical departure from what most of us have come to know as standard techniques. This is a modification that takes some learning and trial and in the end may remain the substantial obstacle for some anglers.
The effectiveness of streamers is not new nor do the authors claim this discovery. I have a fine book by Lawrence Koller, Taking Larger Trout, published in 1950 where he observes "One of the surprising things about bucktail fishing is the size of the fish the angler will encounter on waters he has plied faithfully for several seasons with dry or wet flies....It really is amazing how heavy trout will come clear of the water to smash on of these tantalizing bits of hair and feathers -- trout which never before had shown any interest in conventional dry or wet flies." Koller took it no further.
Linsenman and Galloup take it to the natural end. "Our method of successful streamer fishing is an active hunt with specific tools and techniques. It is not the passive cast-and-swing method of days gone by, where you hope your fly might swing in front of a fish that might be hungry." By active hunt they mean just that. "As alpha predators, they [the trout] behave as do all dominant predators... Kill or be killed and defend what is yours." I suggest that all serious trout anglers read it through. It is your and my best chance for the trout of a lifetime on home waters. RWOL
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