Fly Fishing classic Steelhead Fly's, Salmon Flies and fly tying guide

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Steelhead fly's
page 1 of 3
Edited by
S. G. "Gordy" Gracey

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Glo Bug / Egg Pattern

	Material: Tiemco 511 hook (excellent all around egg and stinger hook), kevlar thread, Glo Bug yarn, head cement. Begin: Build 1/8th inch thread body on hook and cover with cement. Wrap down 2 sections of yarn in contrasting colors with two VERY tight turns of thread so that the yarn "puffs" on top of the hook shank.
With the same second turn of thread, tightly double wrap a single section of yarn to bottom of hook shank so that it "puffs". run the second (last) wrap of the thread between section top and bottom and make several turns of thread in front of both sections of yarn.
Pull yarn back, whip finish the thread and cover with head cement. Cut off thread.
	Now click on picture on left to visualize cut lines. Grab yarn together and very tightly pull up for top section (pull down for bottom section) Now with a very good, sharp pair of scissors cut the yarn at a very slight arc over and under shank of hook Note dotted lines on picture. The yarn will puff and form a ball. Trim to perfect circle circumference. Note that contrast color will be the "eye" of the egg.

SG's TWISTED EGG Very easy and quick to tie and works well in a multitude of sizes and colors, It's especially good for late Winter-run Steelhead.

	Material: Same style hook as the Glo Bug, Kevlar or uni-strand thread, Flashabou, medium barbell or hour glass shaped bead or lead eyes. The main body is tied/twisted with tri-lobal antron. To Begin: Build a small "saddle" of thread mid shank on the hook...see photo (click to enlarge)
	Tie in 3-6 strands of Flashabou for the tail, snip to length, about the same length as the hook shank. Now tie in the tag end of you tri-lobal antron, (about a 4 inch section). Wrap the bead eye or barbell weight down with X wraps in the "saddle" that you created at the beginning.
	Now twist the tri-lobal antron over the bead eye/barbell in a figure eight and finish with an "X" wrap. Tie off with the thread and whip finish. Cover whip finish with head cement, pinch the barb down and the "Twisted Egg" is ready to fish. This pattern fishes well dead drifted under a strike indicator or on a short, moderate, sink tip.

Brat Snack
This pattern has been extremely productive for not only our planted Steelhead, AKA, "Hatchery Brats" but also for the wild Winter-run Steelhead. It should be fished on a sinking tip and in a classic slow swing very close to the bottom. Always let this fly hang at the end of the drift for a few seconds before re-casting.

Fish this fly in the classic style on a 1/4ing across down stream swing . Adjust the weight of your sinking tips to keep this fly about a foot or so off the bottom.	Material: Hook: Gamakatsu TH10, Tiemco, Partridge etc.. 3x in sizes 4-1/0 Thread: #3 Unistretch in hot orange Tail: Amherst Pheasant tippets dyed rocket red Body: French flat gold and thin French circular silver ribbed over hot orange floss or Unistretch thread. Forward section is orange new-age chenille or dubbed fire red SLF. Hackle: Body: Blue Heron or Blue eared Pheasant, Wing: Hoffman hen hackle dyed hot orange. Cheeks: Jungle Cock tippets, Forward hackle: combination, 2 turns chartreuse and 2 turns shiny black Hoffman burnt hen or saddle hackle.
	1. Begin by wrapping in the flat tinsel and creating a small "Tag" behind where you will be tying in the tail. In front of and on top of the tag, tie in a small even amount of the Amherst tippet extending to just beyond the bend of your hook. Now tie in a strand of the flat tinsel with a strand of the circular tinsel right next to it, see top picture. Build a smooth tapered body with your floss or thread, this portion of the body should not go more than 2/3rds of the way forward. Wrap (rib) the flat tinsel evenly over the body followed by wrapping the circular tinsel next to it, tie off the tinsel and snip. Now tie in the very tip of your Blue Pheasant or Heron hackle, lay it back out of the way and dub or wrap you forward body section. Spin the hackle forward and tie off and snip the butt at the front of the body.
	2. Select two evenly matched Hoffman hen hackle tips for your wing, the wing should be 3/4 the length of your hook. Select two evenly matched Jungle Cock tippets. Now put the hen hackle tips together so that the bright sides are facing out, strip a bit of hackle off of the butt and tie down on top of the shank to produce your wing. Tie in Jungle Cock tippets on each side the wing.
	3.Select a soft Chartreuse and a shiny black Hen or rooster saddle hackle, both should be nearly the same size. First tie in the butt of the Chartreuse hackle and wrap 2 turns and tie off and snip, now tie in the butt of the black hackle wrap two turns and tie of and snip, finish with a nice small tapered heed, whip finish and Viola!

The "Minnie leech"
One of the simplest fly's to tie and yet one of the most productive I've ever fished for Salmon and Steelhead.

Hook: > Heavy wire, sizes 1-1/0 i.e. tmc 7999. Thread: > red 3/0 kevlar. Body: > Straight cut bunny strip and plenty of flashabou. Weight: > Optional, either pb wire wrap or barbell eyes. Head: > Crystal chenille. ( also very effective when tied in two tone colors i.e.. pink tail & body with purple collar.)

Ready to fish

Start by tying the bunny strip down right at the bend of the shank, leave a tail of approx 1.5 the length of the shank. Wrap the thread up to the eye, then wrap the rabbit strip very tightly over the shank up to within 1/4 inch of the eye and tie off, now tie in a generous amount (12 -15 strands) of Flashabou along each side. Tie down your barbell eyes just behind the hook eye and cross wrap over them with the chenille, tie off and apply head cement. For pertinent info on how to fish this fly send me an e-mail nortech@olypen.com

Black and Green "Bubble Head" Steelhead Skater

	Another super effective and easy to tie skating fly that can be fished direct, grease lined or riffle hitched. Here's what ya need to tie this pattern: A HOOK (Yup gotta tie it on a hook if ya really want to catch the fishy), Columbia blacktail deer tail (it's a natural shiney black in the middle), Green crystal flash, super excellent quality black hackle (minimum quill webbing), Kevlar thread, dyed black Texas white tail hair (short & stiff).
	O.K. First, Tie in the tail of black hair (stacked Columbia blacktail hair), the tail should be about 3/4 the length of the hook shank. Wrap the body of green crystal flash over the butt ends of the hair to within 1/8 of an inch from the eye (the butt end of the tail hair layered over the shank creates extra floatation), Tie down a thin wing of blacktail deer hair and wrap 2 prime black hackles and tie down. Apply a bit of head cement.
	Now comes the fun part: The top wing, which is the most vital part of this pattern. Stack a generous clump of black Texas whitetail hair, place the tips of this top wing symmetrical with the ends of the bottom wing, pinch tightly with forefinger and thumb near the eye of the hook, make to loose wraps over hair with the Kevlar thread and cinch down tightly. the wing will flair as will the butt ends. Put a couple of drops of head cement on the "butt ends" a pinch butt end's transversely for 5 minutes in your hackle pliers. Release pliers and let dry.
	Trim what is now an "upper lip" into a semicircular form, apply one more coat head cement. Whip-finish one more wrap behind the "upper lip" and your done.
	Top view of finished fly.

The yak hair Steelhead string leech:
When the YAK hair gets wet this fly really comes to life.

	Pop the hook in a vise, in this case I'm using the Tiemco 811s but any good stainless hook will do cause you're going snip the hook off at the bend later anyway. Now wrap on a loop of 30lb - 50lb Dacron, about 3-4 inches long . Apply head cement. I'm using silk thread here, it tends to make a smoother wrap and really holds the Dacron string to the shank but kevlar or standard mono cord works fine..
	Tie on about 4- 5 inches of very supple Yak hair, the color I used for this illustration is cerise with a bit of purple Flashabou, tie it in from the bend of the shank and wrap down the but ends forward toward the eye. leave the Dacron loop hanging. Coat the tied down section with head cement.
	Wrap some cross cut bunny up the shank toward the eye of the hook, tie off cleanly .Apply head cement. (you can use lead or tungsten bead for weight if you want for the head). Now the important part comes next!
	Now take the fly out of the vise, snip the hook at the bend. Dye or paint the Dacron loop the color of the material you used and slide the loop through the eye and over the shank of the hook of your choice, I like a short shanked Gamakatsu octopus, and your ready for the river. ( Gamakatsu Siwash no# 4 used for this pic.)

"Summer Brite"
Steelhead Spey Fly
This an excellent fly in clear water, fish it in fast riffles and tail-outs on a tight line across and down stream.

Summer run steelhead and searun cutthroat trout fly's and olympic peninsula forks washington area flyfishing guides.

1.): Hook: #2 partridge CS10/2 or something similar,( 2): Thread: bright red floss 3/0.
( 3): Body: wrap on orange floss, tapered toward bend, add gold tag and gold ribbing. tie of 2/3 inch from eye of hook. (4): Throat hackle: shiny black hen saddle and blue eared pheasant, make four wraps with each feather starting with the black and finishing with the blue hackle toward the hook eye. .(5):Top Wing: first tie in two bright yellow saddle hackle tips side by side on to the top of the hook then on either side tie in a bright orange saddle hackle tip.(6) Forward Hackle: red and black guinea fowl,2 turns. (7): Forward Flank: Jungle cock tippets tied in on both sides. Finish off with a finely tapered head of bright red floss tying it off about1/16 of an inch back from the eye of the hook.

"(KJP)" a local variation of the venerable "GP"
Super easy to tie and a great all around, all season steelhead fly.
(all the pic's enlarge when you click on them)

		This fly can be tied in a wide variety of sizes and colors, for this illustration I tied it in a bright pink & on a #2/0 partridge hook:>Basic materials<: Yak hair, crystal flash,deyed Amherst pheasant tippets,silk thread,crystal chenille,dyed bright saddle hackle,blood quill or strung marabou,deyed flank feathers of either mallard, pintail or widgeon, and some regular chenille of medium diameter. 1st: tie in a yak hair tail the same length as the hook shank,on either side of the tail tie in six strands of crystal flash then wrap 5 turns of crystal chenille tightly toward the eye & splay in the amherst tippet eyes. (Click on the pic's to observe tying sequence)
	Now tie in the saddle hackle (tip first) forward of the amherst tippet, then strip off approx 1/8 inch of the chenille you will use and tie the stripped off portion down forward of the hackle. Wrap the chenille forward, tie off, Palmer the hackle forward, tie off. Now tie in a symmetrical clump of marabou,the length of which should not be more than 1/4 inch past the bend of the hook.
	Finally, over the top of the marabou wing tie in two equal size wood duck flank feathers that reach to within 1/4 inch of the marabou wing tip, tie off neatly, apply head cement and your ready to fish this fly. Like I said there are many color combo's and sizes for this pattern as well as weight additions, but this steelhead fly really works wonders in water that has 3-5 ft vis and temps above 45 degrees.

**"Freight Train": Another excellent, easy to tie, all season Steelhead fly.**
	Hook: 1/0 - #4 (i.e Tiemco 7999) Thread: BLACK silk or 3/0 mono cord Tail & Throat: Purple Schlappen hackle. Wing: White polar bear or kip tail topped with a few strands of purple or silver crystal flash. Body: gold tag (optional). rear 1/3 >bright orange yarn< mid 1/3>bright pink yarn< forward 1/3 >black antron picked out< wrap body over with gold french tinsel. This fly is sooo easy to tie, that it's fairly self explanatory by just viewing the picture.

"The TOP DOG !" a surface skating fly for Steelhead and Atlantic salmon

example of material and properly tied underbody

Top Dog materials and tying procedure:
no# 1. the hook: Light wire I.E.--> Daiichi no# 4--
no# 2. the floatant (underbody):==> real pronghorn or northern whitetail stacked hair from the butt or rump section of the hide(mucho important'e)
Okay here we go:::::>To begin first tie in a goodly segment of black bucktail for the tail, 9/16th's of an inch long (or close to that), then wrap down a 1/8 inch in circumference section of the previously mentioned hair butts over the remaining hook shank (to within 1/8" of the eye),wrap tightely on the ends and loosely in the middle then glaze heavily with cement. Tie in a seven"inch segment of bright lime green antron, now tie in a really stiff (A Grade) black hackle mid shaft, Wrap the antron toward the head totaly covering the hair underbody, now wrap the hackle tightly forward over the antron and tie it off 1/8th of an inch behind the eye.
no# 3. Now for the underwing, wrap in a section of stacked black bucktail hair tips for the under wing, it should extened to the tip of the tail.

Finishing: The Final step--- the top wing--"the life of this fly"-- Now tie in a semi-generous clump of TEXAS whitetail flank hair (very thick and hollow) over the balck underwing and trim off the butt sections a generous 1/2 inch past the front of the hook eye (to be trimmed later).
Whip finish the thread for the head of the fly "under" the front of the butt sections. Now flatten the forward butt section (with hackle pliers to form an "upper lip") and use several coats of head cement on the hair and let dry between each coat of head cement .Now cut the dried forward section in front of the eye of the hook into a small radial horizontal arc. Fish this fly cross current with a riffle hitch and when the fish comes to it, DO NOT STRIKE, let the line tighten up and you'll be in for it!.

**Steelhead Candy**
	For this fly I use a stainless steel 8811S tmc in size #4 or #2, To begin I wrap on 7 turns of .030 lead wire about mid shank and then wrap over the top of this with the thread before tying in the rest of the material.
	Tie in fore and aft bundles of white soft hackle, wrap bright pink chenille yarn to mid point of hook shank, tie in a strand of bright pink ice chenille and wrap to front of hook. Whip finish, use plenty of head cement and your done.
	What the finished fly should look like. Fish this fly pattern ala deep nymph technique, it's especially effective during those chilly winter conditions for steelhead on Washington's Olympic Peninsula and this little fly also works wonders for Alaskan Rainbows during September and October.

"Black marabou bandit!!!"
This fly is very good for spring and summer steelhead from California to British Columbia.
Another very easy fly to tie and extremely effective

	There are a lot of different hooks you can use, my preference is a heavy 2/0 straight eye. The butt should be a bright rocket red flourecent chenille and you can add a gold tag if you want to, the body is black crystal chenille (pull back the fibers while wrapping). I also like to weight this fly with a few wraps of .030 lead wire under the crystal chenille.
	Palmer in a shiny black blood quill marabou hackle. In front of that Palmer in a bright orange Ginaue hackle then tie a jungle cock tippet on either side of the head and your done. PS I like to use fluorescent red silk thread for the head. If tied correctly the hook will ride Tip Up and most of your fish will be hooked in the upper lip. Fish this fly on a swing, slow and in profile cross current.

For More Effective and Easy to tie Steelhead fly's
Click Here > Go to Page one or Go to page Two

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Salmon Fly's Trout Fly's

Questions and comments: Contact me__Gordy Gracey__ at nortech @olypen.com

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