Trout streamers from a boat?

Weighted fly on a floating line or unweighted fly on a sinktip?

  • Weighted

    Votes: 1 50.0%

  • Unweighted

    Votes: 1 50.0%
  • Total voters
    2
Scudley Do Right

Scudley Do Right

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I only go river fishing in MT once or twice a year. I just picked up a sink tip streamer line but I'm wondering what most people do? Do you fish heavily weighted flies on a floating line or unweighted files on a sinktip? I was thinking the unweighted flies and sinktip would be nicer to cast. I don't know if one is more effective than the other though.
 
Actually from a moving drift boat weighted fly, short leader, floating or sinktip line. You only have a second for the fly to drop into the zone while the boat is moving 5ft/sec.. If using boat for access and wading then unweighted fly because I like more action on unweighted fly and have time for line management to help control depth and presentation.
 
I’ve made a great many commercial drift boat/raft floats on the Yellowstone (Paradise Valley and the lower Livingston to Columbus section), Madison, and Big Hole (multiple sections from Divide to the mouth) and Jefferson (upper section) Over the last 20 years. When fishing streamers it is always a large (2-5”) unweighted streamer on a long sink tip (usually Sonar 25/30 cold) with a short (3-4’), stout tippet (OX). Long, accurate casts are possible covering a lot of water and precise targeting of bank-side undercuts and seams possible as boats tend to not necessarily follow a smooth path downstream.

The real advantage to the unweighted fly and short tippet is it is much safer and less prone to errant casts in a crowded boat. When floating with a partner I much prefer the back seat as it opens up more water on every cast.
 
It depends. Most of my trout streamers are weighted. I like the jiggy action they impart, but I don't like 'em real heavy, for the obvious casting reasons. Sometimes a floating line, but usually a sink tip. I have a couple of newer very fast sinking tip lines that work really well for this purpose. The weighted fly and sink tip make for a good presentation into that hold by a stump, log jam, or boulder. It's only going to take 1, 2, or 3 strips before the strike comes. This is possibly my favorite way for fall trout fishing.
 
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