[Andrew Gilmour]

I've just been listening to Sandy's Fly Culture Podcast and now fancy having a go at Streamer fishing for brownies when the season opens.

I'm keen to tap in to the collective knowledge and experience of forum members, as I'm a total newbie at this style of fishing:-

What tackle setup is best? The inter web suggests a #6-8 rod with either a sink tip or skagit line.

Which flies are worth trying (and where to find them)? Can you use big stillwater flies, or something specifically for rivers?

What method is used to fish them? Upstream / downstream? Fast strip, slow strip, mixture of both?

So many questions!! Thank you in advance for sharing your thoughts...

[James Laraway]

If you have a #6 or #7 that's fine for all but the heaviest of flies.

You don't need 'specialist' streamers. Humongous or bead head woolly buggers work well, but go fancy if you want 😆

Same with lines, if you have a weighted fly you don't really need a sink tip fly line, or use a polyleader on a floating line....

[Filip Adamcio]

I use a 9'6 # 6 rod. Sinking or sink tip lines.
Fishing mostly downstream.
Zonkers, woolly buggers, muddlers #8-2.

[Rob Brownfield]

I am using four rods for streamers, two may surprise you, two won't

The "traditional" streamer rod is a 7 weight Orvis Recon with a Rio Streamer Tip line.
My  "only comes out on a sunday" streamer is a Guideline Fario CRS in a 6 weight with either an SLX or mono rig.
My preferred streamer rod is a 5 weight Taniwha glass rod with an SLX.
My new found passion is  10 foot 2 weight Taniwha Nano Helix with a mono rig.

I have almost exclusively turned to variants of the Martins Minnow for just about every single situation. It is such an amazing fly. The 2 weight with a 5.5mm beaded Martins Minnow lets me plop the fly under far bank branches on the Don, and fish almost immediately it hits. If I want to swing a streamer, I use the 5 weight and just let the current work it all. The 7 weight is used on big, evil streamers, but if I where honest, it vary rarely comes out to play as the MM does so well.

However, I must also say that I never leave home without a box of Woolly Buggers

Having a line with plenty of weight up front helps, especially with the bigger flies. The Rio Streamer for example, flies. However, I find myself using a mono rig more and more as it is so good when you have high banks behind you, or really short drifts to try. You can also pop a fly into tiny pockets with no drift or current to pull the fly out. On small to medium rivers it excels.