Northwoods Sporting Journal > Articles > Featured Articles > Best Streamer Flies

Best Streamer Flies

By Bud Leavitt

Editor’s note: Maine’s late, well-known outdoor writer Bud Leavitt left us his legacy between the pages of his only book, Twelve Months in Maine. In this monthly feature, we reprint selected excerpts from his book courtesy of Bangor Publishing Company.

In most Maine waters you’ll learn, if you’re patient, landlocked salmon, squaretails (Eastern brook trout), and togue (lake trout) will rise readily to minnows, streamer flies, wobblers, or to spinner and spoons ahead of worms.

Don’t let anyone dissuade you into thinking these fish cannot be caught on flies. They can and are, day after day, year after year.

Large Bucktails

To be occasionally successful with flies, tie on large bucktails or streamers, single and tandem streamers. They’re excellent choices, either trolled or cast in depths from two to forty feet from shore.

Among the best streamer and bucktail flies are the Yellow Perch, Golden Darter, Nimrod Special, Brook Trout, Golden Smelt, Nine Three, Black Beauty, Green Ghost, Black Ghost, Royal Coachman, Colonel Bates, Mickey Finn, Spencer Bay Special, Light Edson Tiger, Wardens’ Worry, Barnes Special, Squirrel Tail, Sportsmen Say, Dark Edson Tiger, and the other dressing of equal beauty and fish-taking qualities.

Any one of the mentioned patterns are known to account for sizeable salmon and trout all over Maine and are also magnetic to togue early in the spring. The smaller wet flies and dry flies work better later in the season.

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