I used to hear a wooley bugger with white tail and hackle and yellow body was effective. White crystal bugger has been decent. Murrays Fly Shop has a shiner pattern that is basically a white crystal bugger with a pale blue hackle. Root beer bugger isn't a bad option either.
Had a period when I was big on Shenk's minnows in white, olive, and black and did well - any of Ed Shenk's flies are usually good. English have a similar looking fly called a Baby Doll. A peach Baby Doll tied from peach egg yarn has been good to me. These two have natural silhouettes and are best fished slow or on the drift.
Traditional streamers when I was a kid were the bucktails - black and white, black and yellow, red and white, Mickey Finn, and Ken Lockwood were the standards. My first 20"+ brown was on a black and yellow bucktail. Old saw was yellow in stained water, white in clear. Some of the newer shiner bucktails in olive and white with a crystal flash lateral line look more natural and work well.
Lew Oatman's feathered streamers (golden shiner is a goody) or Keith Fulsher's Thunder Creek series are always good. Those feathered streamers are a little tougher to tie just right, but can be effective. Ones with a strong lateral line - like the dark stripe in a furnace hackle - seem to fool them better for me. Sparer is better on these.
Last spring I had a banner day in clear water with a Don Douple style sculpin. After a mediocre time with standard flies the big browns were chasing the sculpins like bluefish. The Sculpin patterns from the PA limestoners are deadly - simple but effective.
I have limited experience with the monster streamers, but I have seen/heard some good things. Good old Ralph used those monster streamers that either scared the fish or forced them to attack. Didn't work every day, but when they did some big fish came out of hiding. Some say natural streamers in small size do better in the spring when the bait fish are small. That is one way of looking at things - especially in clear and cold conditions. But some guys I trust throw 5" + streamers a lot and are rewarded with some good fish.
In cold water need to get them down, so mend, mend, mend - it's not all in the weight. Less weight gives flies better action IMHO, so minimize the weight and get to throwing mends. Lot's of good streamers out there, use what you trust. Don't let the Rapala guys get all the big browns.
ps: I am also a wet fly guy and my favorite for years was a 6 or 8 Silver Doctor. Still love it, but a much simpler tie that fishes the same is a Teal, Blue, and Silver. I like the Norwegian version with has a red duck quill slip tail and use red thread for a nice red head. The original is GP tippet tail, silver tinsel body w/ silver oval tinsel rib, blue hackle, rolled teal wing. Use red thread for a nice red head.
