The Big Junk Streamer
Cheech - March, 2019
This is one of those patterns that, on several occasions, has turned a slow fishing day into a stellar fishing day but it took us a few times out before we realized just how good it was. If you check out one of the floats we did on the Green River last year, you'll see it in action. Anyway, see what Lance has to say about it below... Basic wooly bugger type streamers (see also, humongous) are my go-to streamer patterns. Sure, giant articulated streamers are cool and fun to tie, but when I want to entice many Trout to take, rather than just 1 or 2, I tend toward simple, easy to tie streamers with lots of motion. The Big Junk is exactly one of those. You are likely wondering how it got the name “Big Junk” when it’s more of a schmedium sized streamer?? Well, to be honest, I don’t remember exactly how it got it’s name, but it has been known as such for about 4-5 years now. I first used this color combo and style of fly on Utah’s Provo river. When fishing the Provo I often dislodge rocks and place my net immediately downstream to see if any large stoneflies, mayflies or caddis are particularly plentiful. When doing so, I often catch sculpins. Top & Bottom Sculpin View Over the years one takeaway I’ve had from looking at many, many sculpins is that they have lighter belly coloration than back coloration. Most sculpin patterns I see are tied too dark in my opinion. This lighter color can range from a pearly white to pure ginger, with the ginger color most prevalent. With this in mind I lighten up the overall color of my sculpins and often use a two tone tail like the ginger and olive tail on the Big Junk. Try this color combination and I’m confident you’ll add it to your confidence fly list. Some notes about fishing this, and many other streamers. First, consider using heavy tippet. 3x is super light and should rarely be used for streamers in a river situation. Start at 2x, and with larger streamers consider 1x or 0x. You’ll find the flies cast easier with the added stiffness and mass of thicker tippet and you’ll have less break-offs. Also, depending on the line you use, various leader lengths can make or break your streamer fishing. If using a floating line (my fav is the Scientific Anglers MPX taper for a good all-around performance line) consider a longer 7-10’ leader to allow your streamer to sink better. If using a sink tip line, like the Scientific Anglers 25 cold, use a short leader. Somewhere between 4-6’ for a single fly and add 3-5’ between flies if you’re fishing 2 patterns. I often fish 2 flies on larger rivers (as shown on our green river vlog from last summer -- see below) and fishing this way can be deadly. Use a dropper tag for your top fly, it’ll swim better than if tied inline and it allows the fish to eat the fly without running into tippet tied to the front and back of the hook.
