Easy and Effective Fly Tying
with 
Gordy Gracey
"Times fun when your tying fly's"

Fly tying instructions for everything from classic Atlantic Salmon fly's & Steelhead fly patterns to the fringe of what might be called a fly.
Special fly Patterns for Washington's Olympic Peninsula, Alaska, and Pacific Northwest
were we primarily target Steelhead, Salmon, Grayling, Char, Sea-run Cutthroat and Rainbow Trout.

Fly  Patterns from  www.fishingnorthwest.com

Updated 08/19/05

The latest patterns:  Component Leech Patterns:
These great Steelhead and Salmon patterns are superb combo fly's for connecting with the biggest bad boys in the river, they work equally well for both species so if there are Salmon and Steelhead in your river at the same time give them a shot and hang on to that rod bucko... [CLICK HERE]
   
Coming soon:   Eggs & Worms, No Kidding!!   These are outstanding patterns, day in and day out these simple fly patterns in a variety of colors are tops for dredging up Steelhead in all of the waters where they exist. Egg Pattern Updated 02-13-04 [click here]
More "Eggs" and 3 different styles of worms are next.

FOR MORE EFFECTIVE and EASY TO TIE
Steelhead, Trout and Salmon fly patterns
Go To These pages

Effective Fly Patterns for Salmon and Steelhead: Series #2
The Gerry Garcia
  Gerry Garcia lives! and he's still as psychedelic as ever, and now it's not just the "Dead Heads" that love him, the Winter "Steel-Head's" are his latest groupies.
This is a very simple pattern to tie and it has been outstanding throughout the winter Steelhead season. I fish it on a fairly short  5ft leader with a 12 to 15ft sink tip. The grain weight of your tip will obviously depend on the volume and current speed of the water that you are fishing. A good rule of thumb is a 140-160 grn tip for moderate current to effectively keep the fly near bottom in 6-10ft of water ( during 75% of the drift/swing).
click pic's to enlarge

	The materials: Hot orange or flame cross cut bunny, flame hen or Schlappen hackle. Hot pink or cerise x-cut bunny and hot pink hackle. Chartreuse x-cut bunny and chartreuse hackle. Hot pink flashabou and crystal flash. Chartreuse thread, I used Danville nylon for this fly. Hook sizes can vary from #2 up to #3/0.
	Step 1:  For tail, begin by tying in and wrapping the flame / hot orange x-cut bunny from the back of the hook and forward. Wrap evenly forward 1/3 of the way toward the eye (usaully about 3-4 wraps). Tie off, snip and tie in the TIP of the flame hackle, flare the fiber out toward the hackle stem and wrap/palmer the hackle very tightly, laying the fibers back over the bunny hair as you wrap.. Do the same now with the hot pink / cerise bunny and hackle.
	Steps 2 & 3: Now on both sides of the fly tie in 12 strands of the hot pink Flashabou, the strands should be aprox 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the end of the tail.Now wrap 2 turns of the Chartreuse bunny, lay hair back and tie off & snip. Tie multiple strands of crystal flash on top, bottom and sides, the crystal flash should be about as long as the Flashabou. Now Tightly palmer in the Chartreuse hackle.
GG Glo-Bug	The finished fly: Tie off the hackle, taper a nice head with the thread, whip finish, lacquer and you have a "Gerry Garcia". This fly is very bright, shiny and lively when in the water and is very effective in both low and hiv vis water conditions, It's an excellent riffle pattern also. The Glo-Bug to the left is how this pattern evolved. We tied these wild Glo bugs in extra large sizes ( #4 - #1) many years ago for Alaska's monster Rainbows that lurk at the mouth of the Kvichak River. Those big Bows are an awful lot like our anadramous Steelhead so we adapted the pattern for classic swinging and hang down fly presentations here in the lower 48 and it worked wonderfully.

The ever popular "Egg Sucking Leech"
Anyone who has ever been in a fly shop or who has ever even talked with another fly fisher has uttered the words "egg sucking leech". This is probably one of THE most common Steelhead and Northwest / Alaskan Trout fly's in existence. I have been very negligent in not posting over a recipe for this fly yet, I have had tons of requests from folks re "how to tie an egg sucking leech", so here is the standard recipe. Don't be afraid to enhance your own version of this fly with a little creativity in the materials department.
The color combination of the following fly is intended to trigger a strike reflex from winter Steelhead.
Most egg sucking leech's dressed for Trout simulate the forage of the regional rivers, I.E. black and olive with a pink egg etc..
so have at it, any color combo you can think of has probably been used in tying the egg sucking leech.

click to enlarge

1: Materials:  For this example I am using a "standard" size 2 Tiemco 3x streamer  hook, Black Kevlar thread, Purple chenille (medium size for the body), Purple marabou with a few strands of crystal flash (for tail), purple saddle hackle, Schlappen hackle would work well also (for body) and cerise/hot pink chenille for the head. 2: Begin by tying on the Marabou tail section, flanked on either side by the Crystal flash. A good general rule of thumb for egg sucking leech's is that the tail should be about as long as the hook shank. At this point you can also wrap some lead on the shank if you want to weight the body. Now tie down the tip of the Schlappen hackle and the stripped end of the Ice Chenille at the point were you had tied in the tail. (see picture)

click to enlarge

3: Wrap your thread forward toward the eye, follow this by wrapping the section of  Ice Chenille forward and tie it off 1/8 of an inch from the eye (wrap the Chenille tightly and brushed back so it creates a smooth body). Now "Palmer" wrap the Saddle or Schlappen hackle forward, combing it out so it creates a full body (of course you can use any type of hackle you like , but in this example I used a Saddle hackle). Tie and snip off the end of the hackle. Tie in a 4" length of medium size Chenille (I used cerise/hot pink for this fly) and wrap it around the shank several times to create a small egg behind the eye of the hook. Tie it off, apply head cement and your done.  You can fish this fly in a classic quartering down stream swing or strip it in with small fast twitches or fish it similar to a nymph under an indicator. This is one of the worlds most versatile fly patterns. Tightest of lines, G <")}}})><

The "WIGGLE BUG"
OK, I know what you're thinking, "It's like a flatfish plug with feathers" and you're almost right, but technically IT IS A FLY and it is absolutely lethal on everything that has fins and eats other things that wiggle or swim. This FLY was invented by Larry Tullis and you can order the kits for tying these FLY'S directly from him. The most effective way to fish it for Trout, Steelhead or Salmon is to slowly drop it back in the current on a tight line and let it work instead of retrieving or swinging it. It can also be cast cross current and allowed to work on a tight line without any interference from the angler. The color combo's are endless..

	Materials:  long shank wide gap hook, ethafoam Wiggle Bug body, marabou, flashabou, soft webbed hackle, Chenille, strong tying thread ( I prefer Kevlar). Wiggle Bug kits include the hook and body for the size wiggle bug you want to tie, they come in a wide variety of sizes. You supply the other material such as the thread, marabou, hackle etc.. contact Larry Tullis for the kits: flyfishlarry@msn.com or call him @ 801-765-0092. Begin: At the front of the hook, 1/4" back from the eye you tie in your hackle butt and chenille end.
	Step 2: Wrap your thread back to the bend of the hook, then wrap the Chenille back to just before the bend and tie off, now wrap the hackle firmly and evenly over the Chenille back to the bend of the hook and tie it off just before the bend. Step 3: Use the tip of your tying scissors or a large pin and poke a hole directly through the front of the Wiggle Bug body just behind the tapered bottom portion.(it is very important that the tapered side of the ethafoam is facing "down" or it will most likely not wiggle properly) Slide the body over the front of the hook and very firmly tie down the back end of the body to the shank.
	Step 4: Tie on a marabou tail, the tail should not be any longer than the shank of the hook and shorter if possible. I used a two tone tail for this example. Then tie in an equal length portion (10-15 strands) of Flashabou, either flanking the marabou or on top of it. Whip finish the thread and snip off. Step 5: Place some "stick on" or painted on eyes on both sides of the body and your done
click on all pic's to enlarge	VIOLA ! you have a Wiggle Bug NOTE: you can custom paint the bodies if you order white body blanks (Lure Coat is excellent for this) or you can get solid color Ethafoam bodies. Ask Larry what colors are available, he usually has an excellent selection. Larry also has awesome kits for foam poppers, hoppers and other terrestrial type bugs.

If your interested in guided fly fishing excursions for Wild Northwest Steelhead, sea-run Cutthroat Trout, Salmon (all species) & Alaskan Rainbows (up to 18+ lbs) please send me an e-mail.
 

FOR MORE EFFECTIVE and EASY TO TIE
Steelhead, Trout and Salmon fly patterns
Go To These pages

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Here's a really neat site to check out for super comprehensive and easy to understand fly tying instruction. Click Here

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