Streamers and triggering trout aggression

Hashtag trigger warning.

We talk in class about different types of trout feeding behavior: on the surface, or subsurface. We talk about food, whether that's insects, other fish, or whatever falls into the prey role that day.

Here are two examples of videos depicting the most visible and dramatic types of eats you'll ever get: territorial brown trout going after streamers.

Typically this is pre-spawn behavior. In the fall, male browns come to full sexual maturity and develop their trademark kype, or hooked jaw, and a deep yellow color.

They are ready to defend their territory from any other fish that might threaten the sanctity of their reproductive dominance, so they swipe at just about anything that looks alive.

This video is a great one to watch to just just get a look at how the fish move to the fly, but also the angler's approach. Cast and move, cast and move. Take a few shots at a likely place, and if nobody's home, move on.

The technique is tried and true: cover a lot of water with big streamers splashed down and stripped quickly through target areas. Still, watching the fish pursue the fly never gets old.

Here's a similar example of some footage from Oregon of a similar sort of situation.