The drought in summer was terrible. Luckily last week the rain has improved things. Today the weather is good, however the surface is dotted with 'drops'. Thousand fry are feeding on surface midges. The perfect time and place to test the new streamers I had tied. I have no whatsoever expectation in term of catches. I just want to cast these tuna streamers before taking them with me on my next trip. Living far from the sea, the large river offers good conditions: the moderate waves originated by the ships cruising by and an unpredictable mix of currents.

If the sea is all around us, the river runs into the soul. It is a magic show, the little fish keep on feeding and leaping in a frantic dance of life. My main goal is to see how the streamers behave in water and if they stand long casts without tangling like a ball of wool.

When fishing for tuna it is key have streamers that are 100% reliable. In some cases the feeding frenzy can last less than a minute and the last thing one wants is to have a fly that does not perform. Or even worse, a streamer that becomes a mess after the first cast.
Considering the amount of fry, I deem cautious to attach the streamer to a 25 cm. titanium trace. One never knows who might be prowling in the surroundings with this plenitude of minnows.

I see some movements on the surface, but definitely no predator attack. It is more like big fish quietly engulfing something from the surface. I am fishing with a 10 cm. whiteand tan imitation at the end of the titanium wire. I try different style of stripping. I start with a very slow motion speeding up the retrieval after each cast and .. bahm! Fish on!

I got in the middle of a school of big ide (Leuciscus idus). Not great fighters, but in 2 to 3 kg. size always a pleasure and. This fish feed mostly on benthos, insects and snails. It becomes piscivor when growing in size. It lives in very large rivers and it is found in brackish water too. It is the first time that catch a ide. According to some sources Ide are caught mostly and small nymphs and dry flies.

The 1/0 tuna hook attached to a pike titanium wire eaen by the big ide.
At the end of the day the streamers test was very positive. The body fibers did not tangle over a reasonable few cases, the sharp saltwater hook with small barb was easy to remove without damaging the fish. I identified one imitation that was not performing correctly and sorted out a number of very reliable and robust flies. I even caught a fish. The power of low expectations.