Fishing Down and Across

Down and Across

Many areas of New Zealand have fine downstream angling traditions dating back well over a century. Turangi and the fabled waters of the Tongariro have always been the holy grail of the downstream fisherman here, with many excellent historical writings about down and across (or, if you like, across and down) fishing, by Vice Admiral Hickling, Budge Hintz, Sierpinski, Zane Grey, and latterly Jensen, Gould, and Kemsley.

In the Tongariro, down and across fishing was de rigeur for close to a century, well before Grey. In the period 1970-1980s, nymph fishing, particularly ‘glo-buggery’, became the rage and largely displaced down and across. In recent years however, there has been a revival of the old ways and in certain pools, such as the Hydro, Major Jones, Island, Judges, Breakfast, and many downstream of the main highway bridge, down and across can still be the best way to success.

Feeling the line swing down and across, the strong pull as a fish takes a fly and hooks itself has a certain magic. It’s more relaxing, more like real fishing should be. You don’t need to concentrate so hard. You can think, look, enjoy the surrounds.

Sometimes it’s the history and formality of the method that makes it appealing. Standing on the site of Grey’s fishing camp on the banks of the North Umpqua in Oregon, for instance, was a special part of my downstream indoctrination. Feeling the history, fishing the same pools, walking the same trails as Grey set the scene for a memorable trip. To have fished a nymph upstream under such circumstances would have been heresy and brought ridicule from angling companions.

Trout get big by being piscivorous or eating baitfish. This is especially so of larger specimens, which require proportionally larger calorific intakes as they grow. Eating a fish diet makes great sense in terms of energy efficiency, as more time can be spent resting and growing. One small fish is a more energy efficient meal than dozens of tiny mayflies. Feeding on baitfish is also a defensive mechanism of large trout. It makes them less vulnerable because they have no need to expose themselves for longer periods of time, which insect drift feeders do. With increasing angling pressure on popular rivers, streamer fishing may well become more popular as fish change their feeding habits to escape angling persecution.

Streamers work best when fish are out actively seeking food. Temperature is important to trout feeding as is barometric pressure and moon-phase, but many times trout can be provoked into striking an angler’s lure when a dry fly and nymph never work.

Bad light situations are great times to fish down and across, as there is no indicator or small dry fly to look for and fishing by feel can have a lot of merit.

Times of high flow are also prime times to fish down and across. The angler can cover more water, move fish from greater distances, and fish may also be hungrier and at a tactical disadvantage due to murky water. Don’t discount low flows, though, especially at the change of light and after dark.

Many anglers only fish down and across when nothing else is working, but it is a mainstay method that can be successful any time of day or season and takes cunning, application, and knowledge.

As fish take with such aggression and often have the weight of water behind them, it pays to use very heavy line. Because the fish generally see the fly before the line, tippet size doesn’t seem to be too important. Because they are so preoccupied by the imitation, fish don’t have time to examine the line, the imitation, or even the angler. Be prepared to lose plenty of flies if you are fishing deep. Big trout like heavy structure and plenty of gear will be lost casting to those gnarly spots. When you start fishing these places, you begin to realise how many trout are actually present in many rivers and how many trout most upstream nymph and dry fly anglers run past in a day.

When fishing down and across, there’s also a need to try different depths. During an even-ing on La Fontaine spring creek in South Westland, my companion (a much better angler than I) was fishing a floating line, while I was throwing a T130. We were fishing similar streamers, but I hooked eight fish to his one, which showed the importance of depth and the influence of the sink tip line in adding realism to the streamer.

Floating lines work well with streamer flies in smaller waters and spring creeks that are either shallow or full of weedbeds. A Matuka lure swung just under the surface will produce fish, most never seen during daylight hours.
On the change of light, browns and rainbows become very active, hunting food and covering a lot of ground, often coming out from under the banks in dull light and darkness. Some excellent fish can be caught swinging olive Matukas down and across. A large BB shot pinched on at the tippet knot is enough to give the lure an erratic wobble and by casting and throwing a big downstream mend, it’s possible to swim the Matuka along and under a far bank where hungry trout wait.

Outside New Zealand, the rivers of the Skeena drainage in British Columbia offer some of the largest strains of steelhead in existence. Down and across with the steelhead swing or ‘greased line’ technique are the favoured methods. Although steelhead will take skated surface flies, when water temperatures are high, most fish are caught dredging deep. There’s a saying: “Go ugly early”. And so by scouring the depths with a T300 (Teeny) line, 3ft leader, and a black egg sucking leech many fine fish can be caught. Similar methods work in parts of the Tongariro.

The basic Teeny routine is to throw long casts with a sink tip line and throw upstream mends with the floating portion of the line to allow the fly to get as deep as possible before the current starts swinging the fly. If fishing across large areas of slow water into faster flow, it can be necessary to throw downstream mends to keep the line tight and present the fly in the right manner. Once the line starts to straighten, the rod is held perpendicular to the current flow and once the line begins to tighten, you can follow around with the rod tip and fish through the drift. During the swing, no line should be held in your hand, it should come directly off the reel. When a fish takes, it will hook itself against the drag of the reel. It isn’t rocket science and everyone will have their own individual techniques at getting the fly to the fish.

Perhaps one of the best books of recent years in regard to streamer fishing is Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout (1999) by Americans Bob Linsenman and Kelly Galloup. The authors advocate heavy sinking lines, mega short leaders, outsize baitfish imitations, and aggressive fast action retrieves. Most of this book details fishing from boats, splashing heavy casts within inches of the bank or instream obstacles, and retrieving with an aggressive ‘rip and jerk’ action to stimulate the predatory and territorial instincts of trophy trout. Full sinking lines can be great out of boats, but are more difficult when standing in running water. Sink tip lines are arguably most practicable for New Zealand applications.
The ‘rip and jerk’ technique necessitates bulk energy where the angler smacks the fly and line down on the water to attract fish and points the rod tip at the water and retrieves line frantically. It is virtually impossible to strip the line too fast some days. Brown trout often behave like kingfish, where the faster the jig moves the more likely they are to take it. After each cast, take a few steps, as fish will come a long way to take the fly. Only cast once to each spot. If the fish ignore the first cast, they will generally ignore the second as well. You will see fish chasing the fly and learn a lot about big predatory trout behaviour. Some of the takes are electric, with fish taking at the rod tip, in a very visual and violent manner. This technique works in big and small rivers. In medium-sized rivers, wade down the middle throwing to the most enticing structure. Line mending is often unnecessary with this method — just cast and retrieve. It is a great way to explore and to cover a lot of ground. Streamer anglers will find kilometres of fine trout water rarely fished by other anglers myopically blinded with other methods.

Streamer fishing can also be a great way to fish water with difficult currents — backwaters, tidal estuaries, and eddy pools. Sometimes fish will eat streamers when they will eat nothing else. They seize such flies in response to territorial aggression and instinct as predators at the top of the food chain. Most people use streamers that are too small. Don’t be afraid to use big chunks of fur and chenille. Make that lure look like a fish that knows it’s in trouble.
When dredging streamers on the swing, or the ‘rip and jerk’ method, I like the rod tip to be in, or close to the water to have maximum contact with the fly. Keep the fly moving so the fish doesn’t get too much of a look and depart.
Obvious places to cast are against the far bank, beside obstacles such as large rocks, logs, willows, or weed beds. Shelves offering changes of depth or current are good, as are areas overhung with vegetation or shadow. Water more than three metres deep is tough and should be avoided unless you are fishing in very slow current, or from a boat anchored over a river delta.

No article on streamer fishing would be complete without a paragraph or two on sea run browns. Traditionally these fish have been taken on spinning and salmon gear in the surf, guts, and lagoons. These methods still work great. Last winter I purchased a ‘Canterbury scratching rod’, which is good for fishing deep fast guts and troughs for East Coast alluvial sea runners. This rig is great for down and across fishing at close quarters. It enables the angler to put streamer flies really deep really fast, which is impossible on conventional fly gear.

Quite large numbers of sea runs enter rivermouths and are most common in areas of tidal influence. Many are eating smelt, whitebait, bullies, crabs, shrimps, juvenile flounder, and mullet. The best times are spring and summer, but fish inhabit such locations year round. Matuka style patterns, dressed with plenty of flashy synthetic materials, are favourites. There are no hard or fast rules on depth or fly retrieve.

Tackle and techniques have evolved over recent years, especially in the development of fast action rods and fast sinking density compensated flylines, fluorocarbon, and new and exciting designs of streamer flies, tied with soft and pliant traditional and modern materials, such as marabou, rabbit pelt, synthetic fibres, and rubber legs. Rods and reels are up to the individual angler, although it is much easier to repeatedly throw big casts with heavy lines and wind resistant flies on larger eight weight gear. Flylines should be tailored to conditions. Teeny lines are great, but recently I have been testing equipment manufactured by RIO. RIO has a comprehensive range of floating sink tip and full sinking lines for all occasions, as well as a fully luminescent glow-in-the-dark line.

Despite the myths, casting sinking and sink tip lines is not difficult — they can be easier to cast as they have more weight, load the rod better, and eliminate numerous, unnecessary backcasts. Make up your own sink tip shooting heads out of lead-core trolling line, if you’re a young fella or on a budget. They’re ugly to cast, but definitely work.
Muddler Minnows, with flared deer hair head, revolutionised streamer fishing and most modern big lures, can trace their lineage back to Don Gapen’s original creation. Such lures were designed to imitate the North American sculpin, which is very similar to the New Zealand cock-a-bully. Bucktails, Clouser Minnows, Spey flies, Marabou muddlers, and Woolly Buggers are favourites, but New Zealand has it’s own proud history of streamer development, most designed for more passive down and swing fishing, lake fishing, or night fishing.

Flies with heavy dumbbell eyes, epoxy 3D eyes, glass death rattles, soft pliant synthetic materials, heavy wire hooks, cone heads, tungsten beads, and split shot are other significant innovations. Luminous globeads are well worth sliding down the leader on to the tippet knot in low light or tannin water conditions. Weighted streamers can give a good jigging action where they are legal. ‘Rip and jerk’ is more suited to large bully type lures, while steelhead swing and dredging methods are more suited to other baitfish or attractor patterns. I find a loop knot at the terminal end of the leader very effective. It allows a hinge effect and allows the streamer more movement during the retrieve.

If you are swinging streamers deep and slow, white and light coloured patterns work well, as they look like a dying or sick minnow. One trick worth trying is the Atlantic salmon technique known as a ‘riffle hitch’. This is two half hitches tied in the leader around the eye of the lure so the fly rides broadside to the current and presents a better profile and silhouette to the trout.

Black is a great colour and has great silhouette underwater, but many other colours are worth trying. Lefty Kreh reckons that “if it ain’t chartreuse, it ain’t no use”. Yellow is a favourite colour, particularly on sea run browns. Browns and rainbows are both highly receptive to red. Flashy crystal flash and flashabou can add some zap to smaller baitfish patterns too. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

Try fishing multiple fly rigs, which gives the trout a choice. Many overseas anglers fish a larger, light coloured or white pattern followed by a smaller darker pattern, so they can see more takes. Guide Peter Carty ties a gold beadhead nymph about 20-30cm behind a Woolly Bugger. If the fish takes short on the streamer, it can be hooked cleanly in the scissors of the jaw with the nymph.

Theories and opinions abound on streamer fishing. But nobody knows everything. The real key is to grab your rod and go fishing. You’ll be amazed at what you discover!

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