Contact: Pure and simple, no doubt about it, sure as sh_t and plain as day the most imortant facet of drift boat streamer fishing is contact with the fly and line control. As many of you well know, drift boat fishing on many of the western watersheds is a fast game. Drift boat Streamer fishing in technical watersheds can be some of the most challenging fishing an angler will ever do.

The primary challenge falls in the fact the Streamers are obviously fished sub surface and depending on the water type the angler must "pick the spot or bucket" and quickly determine if sinking the fly is important based on the depth of the "spot" or if the presentation even requires to sink the fly. When sinking the streamer into some depth on the river it is always important to watch the end of the line because many trout will eat the streamer in a dead drift mode as it is sinking. To sink the fly one of the best techniques is to stack line. This does not actually require the angler to mend the line, it more so requires the angler to pile line "in line" with the fly which allowes the fly to sink without tension. Once you have allowed the fly to sink into the spot, the angler must then get contact with the fly via a semi tight line.

This process is sometimes happening real quick and hence the angler is continually surmising the water and adjusting his retreive and sink ratio based on the depth and speed of the river. This cannot be accomplished without contact and good line control. Undoubtedly, in someways, streamer fishing is more challenging than dry fly fishing. One tip that will always help an angler with line control whether he is fishing a dry or streamer is to spool up line that is not needed. Large arbor reels are great tools for spooling line quickly as the retreival ratio is quite a bit higher then a standard reels.

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