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Gobies are a type of baitfish made up of a variety of different species and live in freshwater systems. Similar to sculpins, these baitfish tend to hug the bottom of creeks, streams, rivers, and lakes and they provide excellent forage for anything from smallmouth bass to trout and even oddball species like catfish and crappie. These baitfish are generally in the 2”-5” range with a round profile, making them excellent forage for fish of nearly all sizes. The Goby Baitfish Streamer imitates the natural profile of these baitfish while providing lifelike motion in the water. Easy to tie and even easier to adjust to match the color of the gobies in your local system, this streamer is a solid choice whether you’re stripping it for hungry smallmouth in the middle of summer or dead-drifting it for lazy trout on a cold winter day.

Material list:
Hook: Gamakatsu B10S, size 4 (can be tied in sizes 2 through 8)

Weight: .020 Lead Wire

Thread: UTC Ultra Thread 70 Denier (color: olive)

Tail support: Hareline Black Barred Marabou Feather (color: olive)

Tail: Keough’s Tyer’s Grade Cape (color: grizzly dyed olive)

Body: Senyo’s Laser Dub (color: olive)

Collar: Hareline Black Barred Marabou Feather (color: olive)

Buy Material Kit

Step 1. Wind between 15 and 20 wraps of .020 lead wire on the hook shank, leaving enough room to tie the tail in and enough room to build a collar. For larger flies, you’ll need more wraps, and for smaller flies, fewer.

Step 2. Begin your thread base with a jam knot directly behind the hook’s eye and in front of the lead wire, then continue the thread over the entirety of the lead, adding a dam of thread just behind where the lead ends. This will prevent your lead from moving along the shank.

Step 3.  Select a Black Barred Marabou Feather that’s roughly the length of the shank. Tie it in on top of the hook and trim the excess.

Step 4. Select two grizzly feathers roughly two times the length of the hook shank. Tie one on each side, above the marabou tail support.

Step 5. Grab some Senyo’s Laser Dub and trim it to be proportional to the fly you’re tying (in this case, we cut the dubbing in half), and then rip stack it into a nice, even bunch. Now tie the bunch of dubbing in in front of the tail–it’s important to tie the dubbing in at the halfway point, so you have enough fibers facing the rear and enough fibers to pull rearward.

Step 6. Pull the dubbing fibers that are facing towards the eye of the fly rearward, then build a dam with your thread to angle them back.

Step 7. Advance your thread roughly an eye length ahead of this bunch and repeat the previous step.


Step 8. Repeat the previous step. For larger flies, you may need to do this more than three times.

Step 9. Strip some Black Barred Marabou and insert it into the Swiss CDC Multi Clamp, or a similar tool.

Step 10. Now build a dubbing loop with your thread and insert the Black Barred Marabou into it. Spin the dubbing loop with your tool to create the loop.

Step 11. Wind your dubbing loop to create the collar. After wrapping the collar, be sure to use your bodkin to pick out any trapped fibers.

Step 12. Whip finish your fly off and add head cement.