Hairwing Streamers aka Bucktails

The bucktail, man what a perfect fly tying material. If you follow this blog you well know i love streamer flies. Many of the feather wing Rangeley style flies are represented here. These flies are gorgeous and truly works of art. But they are fishing flies and will get it done when called upon.

But this is about the meat and potato flies called bucktails. These flies have a basic simple body, some color in the form of hackle fibers and hair form a whitetail deer. The buck tail comes in natural and many dyed colors. Your imagination can run wild when creating these flies. Although I used the whole tail in selecting the hair I especially like the back of the tail for my bucktail streamers. The natural is just super and the colored ones although primarily brown have a tint of the dye of the color. This is subtle but when wet makes a big difference.
 

 

Here are a few hairwing streamer flies. In here are bucktails and some squirrel tailed streamers.
 

As you can see I tie them both on the sparse side and some a little more fuller.
 

This simple bucktail was tied using the backside of the tail. You can see the nice taper along with the lighter front and a darker tail.
 

In this one, a squirrel tail is tied a little fuller. Squirrel tail will fill out near the head as it moves through the water, a beautiful impression.
 

This male brook trout took the bucktail as it moved swiftly through the stream.
 

This brook trout took the squirrel tail very aggressively  as it was stripped quickly.

I will post just how to tie these in a future post.
 

 

Places to look, don't overlook them.....

 I just want to share some info on how I fish a small stream. All of the obvious places are a given, like pools and riffles leading to those pools. The tail outs and other places that we usually find a fish. But I'll show you the odd ball spots that you might not expect to find trout. I'll say this that over looking these places may not be in your best interest.

 

A swift current leading into this awful wood pileup. The sun is high and you might figure that no self respecting trout will be there. Well under that mess is a good sized cavern, the woody debris forms a undercut that, and I will say this with certainty will hold one if no three brookies. Make your cast so that it covers the entire length of the debris jam. Trout may not venture far to take your fly so be sure to cover each section.
 

As  you can see this looks simple. So a cast all along the log where it providing shade will most times get you a strike.
 

This is a perfect place to find a brookie. As you can see I'm fishing down stream, this is how I fish 96% of the time on small streams. The fly is allowed to drift down with the current.
 

Here is where the fish struck. In places like this the strike is hard.

 

This is the brookie that took the fly at the X.

 

 

The "little brook"...

This little stream is about 1.7 miles from my back door. I have crossed this stream thousands of times and the thought was are there fish in there. Well several years ago I got a hold of a CT. wild trout survey. It was taken in 2001 I believe. Well that little stream had one of the highest concentrations of wild brook trout in CT. With that knowledge I did some poking around and I did find willing brookies. The area I fished was a few hundred feet downstream which you see here, and a few hundred feet upstream. The area upstream has some houses and I never attempted to gain access further up. But I think this is the year I'll change that and dive in and ask. The area downstream goes into farmland and access will be easier to get I believe.
 

 

Looking upstream you can see the land is developed, but the stream is protected. Trees are intact and the turns of the stream provide good cover.
 

 The brookies in this stream are like this. In fact this is a big one. Most that I've caught here were smaller.

 The other day while driving I noticed this sign up. The land borders the stream. I just hope who ever develops it takes into account the wild residents of the little brook.

 

From Simple to Extravagant

 "mixtures of science and art have produced ten thousand pretty flies we don't need"..Datus Proper "What the Trout Said"....I agree with that quote. It's not to say that some quite elaborate flies aren't needed but those flies are art and that's where they belong. A framed Atlantic salmon fly is a beautiful sight. A meticulously tied Catskill dry fly to me is a form of art that few can truly say they can accomplish. That being said I also think that a simple fly is also a form of art that will provide something those lovely framed flies can't and that is a tug on the line. The thought of fishing some thread and a twist or two of hackle seems absurd, and that's what I thought until I gave it a try. The results are in and all I can say is it's "phenomenal"..

 

This fly has proven a top producer. Yellow silk, and brown hackle. Also tied with orange and olive threads it has taken trout all year. As Mr. Atherton so stated in his book, "impressionistic"...
 

 

 

 

 On this one I went a little extravagant with the use of  Shetland Spindrift wool body. Sometimes I get carried away.

"for those who love small streams, wild trout and life in their simplest form"

Alan Petrucci, "Small Stream Reflections"