No not that kind, no wife swapping! I mean the West Coast steelhead/trout new streamer type fly swinging. I have always heard a lot about the West Coast guys coming to the Missouri River and using this technique and flies with great success but really never gave it much thought until a year ago. I loved to streamer fish but hated the idea of so many missed strikes and the big problem of getting the fly to the correct depth while at the same time moving to different and varied locations in the stream. I began to YouTube the subject and was surprised to see just how complex the flies were then but in the last year the "intruder" style flies have become much easier to understand and tie. Make no mistake getting everything to tie these guys is a bitch, shanks, trailer hooks, good materials like Artic Fox and trailer tube material, OK got it all BUT wait now you need a method to hold the shanks (either straight or Waddington) of course my Dyna King can't hold the straight shanks- OK get a new add on and now I'm all set. Why do I like these guys, well they are fun to tie (except for getting stuck by the trailer hook while tying) plus the fact you can vary the weight just by using different hour glass eyes (brass or lead), materials are pretty simple and they are just dam fun to do. OPST has a good variety of flies to look at and materials to buy, but if you want to see more just look up "Aqua Flies" they have a great selection of flies to look at plus YouTube "Intruder flies" and wow there they are a ton to watch they tie.
I use mostly Artic Fox, marabou, ice chenille, mallard dyed and a ton of dyed rabbit strips, that's about it.
Fishing these flies is a very easy and slow process, cast quarter down stream and hold the line in your rod holding hand and follow it thru the entire drift till the end and at this point give your rod a few gentle pull backs, this helps to stimulate a fish that has followed your fly into taking. You can vary the speed but just adjusting your entry into the water or mending downstream to slow the drift. With this style your not going to get many if any short strikes. Your wading will be minimal and this gives you a good chance to get some of the bigger fish that seem to hide in the mid pool or close to the far bank, if you use a longer rod you can use a two handed snap tee cast or for that matter you can do it with a single handed rod also, so your casting never gets to be a pain nor do you have to watch what is behind you. Given the slow method you will be surprised at how hard the takes will be and the different size fish that you'll get. Give them a try and you might become interested in swinging!
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