By Mike Murphy
The Gray Ghost is no doubt, the most celebrated streamer on earth; it still works, and it is still considered the go-to streamer for landlocked Salmon and larger Brook trout. It is hard to imagine improving on this pattern, which can be fished successfully in so many different ways. You can troll it in still water. And on the stream and river, it can be flipped on top as a stunned smelt, cast up and stripped madly in the Maine tradition, cast across and swung or simply fished downstream like a holding minnow.
One way to liven up any streamer is to tie the overwing in Marabou. This produces a lifelike undulation in the water and a sleeker signature. In short, it is a better imitation (when it is wet of course - when dry all marabou patterns look silly). I like to use at least two contrasting colors on my marabou overwings because it gives a nice stripe effect which I think gets me more strikes. On a Black Ghost Marabou, for instance, I put a little black over white rather than using all white.
The W-Boo is simply a Gray Ghost Marabou variation. The pattern shown, is representative
of smelt found in the upper West Branch of the Penobscot River in Maine.