Streamers

April was relatively dry, and May has already had some serious rain.  Stream flows have been up for the last two weeks putting the dry fly action on hold.  I'm not the type to hang up the rod or stand in the river flailing dries at a blank river, and after having a poor day nymphing in higher flows I realized a plan C is in order.  After traveling out west and fishing with the big streamers I decided to bring the idea back with me.  I'm not talking about little bucktails, I'm talking meat.

I have a few basic streamers I like to tie up (including bucktails), but I wanted something bigger, with two hooks, and really easy to tie.  After a little research online, I found a great idea for a huge streamer pattern that can be used for pike... perfect.  It's called the double bunny, and below are pictures of my version.  This is a proven pattern.

Lead painted eyes.  Small slice of foam behind the eyes to taper from the eyes down to the shank to give the rabbit strips something to glue to.

Finished fly.  I have a trailer hook near the tail connected to the main fly by backing.

Fly wet.  This is around 5 inches in length from hook eye to tail.  Notice I added a little flash down the sides on this one.

Fly connected.  This is a 17" brown, my biggest inland brown of the season, and a well above average fish for the creek.  Special thanks to my Utah buddies for giving me the confidence to bring the big streamer strategy back east.