Steelhead Spey Flys and fly fishing guides for the Olympic Peninsula rivers near Forks Washington and Alaska

Steelhead Fly's

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This fly tying page is edited by
Gordon Gracey

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The Steelhead "MUGGER"
This full dress fly pattern is particularly effective for winter run Steelhead, it can be tied in a multitude of color combinations & sizes and is very versatile in it's technique applications. Fish it on a sink tip in the classic quartering across single mend swing or dredge it deep as a nymph. In bright colors this fly fishes very well in high off color river conditions.

	Hook:> Gamakatsu T10-6h. Thread:> kevlar. Body:> Chenille or dubbed SLF. Body hackle:> Palmered saddle hackle. Sides:> Flashabou. Wings:> Two layered and contrasting colored marabou blood quill fiber clumps. Face:> Saddle or Schlappen hackle (spun). This fly can be weighted or unweighted depending on your preferences, I like to wrap at least 10 turns of .030 pb on mine.
	Begin at the bend of the shank , tie in the end of the chenille and the hackle tip. Wrap a symmetrical body to within a 1/4 inch of the eye, evenly palmer/spin the hackle forward to within a 1/4 inch of the eye. On either side/flank tie in 7 strands of Flashabou that the length of which protrudes past the bend of the hook by 1/4 inch. Tie in the top and bottom under wing of marabou (the lighter of the two colors.
	Now tie in the top and bottom over wing of marabou ( the darker of the two colors). With a pair of very sharp tipped scissors clean up the tied down material at the front of the hook in preparation for wrapping the face hackle. The marabou wings should be symmetrical (equal length) and be lay at least 1/2 inch beyond the bend of the hook when pulled back.
	Peel the butt section fibers off of the hackle that you have selected for the face and slightly crush the peeled quill with you finger nail so that it is more pliable for wrapping. Tie this peeled portion of hackle butt right in up against where you tied off the wings and spin the hackle forward laying each wrap snugly against the previous. Make 5 wraps and tie off. Finish the head and whip finish a knot to complete the fly.

The "Lightning bug"
A very productive Spey style fly for both Summer & Winter run Steelhead.

	The hook I generally use is a 1/0 or 2/0 Bartleet Partidge. The thread is fine kevlar, brt orange > hint, use a ceramic tipped bobbin with this stuff. To begin , wrap on a bright chartruese/green tag of silk, tie in a section of Amhest Pheasant tippets for the tail then wrap a bit more of the tag material just forward of the tail. Now wrap a generous amount of prime Peacock herl forward of the tag and tail section to just past the mid section of the shank. click on the picture to enlarge
	Step 2: Select a web free hackle from the saddle section of a blue eared pheasant and tie the tip of the hackle on just in front of the peacock herl. Dub the thorax of the fly with a loop of black slf. Now carefully wrap your hackle forward over the dubbing so that the fibers splay back and away from the eye of the hook. Select two tips of bright green saddle hackle and tie down on top and in front of the thorax. click on the picture to enlarge
	To finish the fly, tie in two tip sections of glossy black saddle hackle on EITHER side of the green main wing (saddle hackles). Tie in the the black hackle a bit shorter than the main wing. Top the wings with an Amherst Pheasant crest plume and tie on a single jungle cock tippet on either side of the head of the fly for cheeks. click on the picture to enlarge

The Classic Steelhead "String Leech"
This is my "go to" fly all winter long on all of the Olympic Peninsula rivers

I have tyed this fly in almost every color of the rainbow but black, fuschia/cerise and hot orange have been the major producers.
Simply cut off the bend and point section of a short heavy shank hook, put the shank in the vise. Tightly double wrap a 3" loop of 20lb micron or dacron on to the shank, this is to attach the working hook later (dye the loop the color of your material). Tie on a long fat strip of bunny hair so that it hangs an inch or so past the point/end of the loop. Wrap on a collar of marabou and a front of schlappen hackle and tie off, you can add lead barbell eyes, etc... I like to tie of these fly's in a variety of sizes from 3" all the way up to 6.5". click on the picture to enlarge.

The "Steelhead Stinger "

Side view	Top view	A good hook for this fly is the Daiichi 2451 in size 2. Step 1. Using bright red thread ( preferably kevlar), wrap on a generous yet short tail of rocket red hackle, in front of this wrap in a circle rocket red chenille, flank this with dyed bright orange amherst tippets. Wrap in a body of peach chenille ribbed in silver french tinsel.
		Step 2. Tie in a base wing of pure white Polar Bear topped with a bunch of bright orange Australian Raccoon ( gaurd hair should be symmetrical with base wing ). Tie in a rocket red hackle throat and tie off. Thats it !

SLF "buzz bug"
An excellent winter Steelhead fly for you nymphing technique aficionado's

	For the hook I'm using the 811S TMC. I'm tying this one sans lead, but a few turns of .030 lead doesn't hurt, it's up to you. Begin by wrapping the thread to the shank ( at bend ), then twist some bright SLF dubbing onto about 9 inches of your thread, tapering the dubbing at each end.
	Take your dubbing hook and loop your dubbed section of thread over the dubbing hook and back to the shank. Tie off the thread to the shank while keeping your dubbing loop taught. Twist the loop until you form a fairly tight dubbing rope. Wrap the dubbing symmetricaly from the back of the hook up to a 1/4" from the eye, try to exhaust all of you dubbing loop by building up the body here.
	Wrap a bright saddle hackle tight against the SLF body, and then make another dubbing loop and dub the forward section of the shank up to the eye, tie off and apply head cement. Fish this fly just as you would a glo bug or a big nymph, deep and without any drag, preferably under a floating line.

U.S.A. Spey
Great for bright days and clear waters

	For this pattern use a classic salmon fly hook like a CS10/2 partridge or a daiichi 2051. The rear section is cobalt blue mylar with the tag and ribbing being silver flat French ribbon. The foresection is loosely bubbed red SLF wrapped over with a section of blue eared pheasant. ( I like to use red no#3 Uni-Stretch thread for this fly )
	The wings are simply symmetrical tips from high quality saddle hackle. Start by laying up two white tips then two red tips over and on top and then the blue tips over and on top of the red tips. Top the wing off with an equal length section of amherst pheasant crest.
	Now, just forward of your wing, wrap in 3-4 turns of bright blue saddle hackle ( use the mid section of the quill ). Then for shoulder and eye use bright blue guinea hackle tips over layed by jungle cock tippets. Tie of the tippets and build a small evenly tapered head, whip finish and lacquer.

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