Steelhead hunters

[eastern fly 0]

I have a question for all the steelhead hunters. I have seen a lot of steelhead fly and the bright colors. What do the fish think they are. Also I have seen a few that I was wondering if they would work for other trout. Has anyone used a steelhead fly to catch rainbows and browns, and what was it.

 

Easternfly

[Old Hat 0]

Hi Easternfly, most of the soft hackled steelhead flies that I tie catch a lot of trout, I just fancy them up a bit for the steelhead...they deserve it.

 

I make them smaller if I'm targeting trout but I have caught a lot of trout on the size 8 and 10's that I use for steelhead.

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

I'm with old hat alot of my stonefly nymphs I use for chrome I use and caught many trout on

[Voodoo 0]

Not from personal catches but there are a few guys here in calgary that use the big purple trubers and they seem to catch the browns and bows

[flytyinfreak 0]

Hey Kevin, First ff I'd like to say I had a family emergency (nothing crazy) but I wasn't able to get to go see Kelly tye this last week I was hoping to show him some of our stuff but alas the wife had stuff i had to deal with. Bummer! Anyways, The reason we tye all those pretty colors for Pacific Northwest Steelhead is out of respect and admiration, At least from my perspective. My friend Justin Miller once stated that you cold tie a black bunny strip with a little dubbing on a hook, swing it through a run and catch a steelhead, but the reason we tye what we do is more like an offering of respect and the awe we hold these fish in. First off a steelhead is a rainbow and a rainbow can become a steelhead, there is no genetic difference in the fish. A steelhead is basically a rainbow trout who gets an itch for the salt. Simple as that (yah right!) Lets look at the B-run Chrome of the Salmon River in Idaho. Google Stanley Idaho (middle fork of the Salmon) and look at it on the map. There are redds in the vicinity. now zoom out. Zoom out again, and again, until you can see Japan. Those fish swim over 900 river miles over 8 immense dams and assorted other obstacles just to get to the sea!!! They have been tracked as far away as Japan! After anywheres from 2-3 years they start the journey back upriver to spawn, identical to the migration of their cousin the salmon species. They encounter the same obstacles as they did going down but know it's against the current (for nine hundred miles!!!) to find the same exact redds (spawning beds) that it hatched from. Now unlike the wussie Salmon who do the deed (spawn) and then die, the steelhead says "That was fun! Lets do that again!" and turns and heads back out to sea! If a Steelhead is really really lucky and completely a bad ass they are capable of making the journey between 3 to 5 (never heard of a 5 salt fish) times. Now think about that. How many miles that fish has traveled, the obstacles and predators it avoided from natural to man made to reach those spawnign redds. For me it is a mind boggling and jaw dropping thought to just try and comprehend what this magnificent fish hs gone through. It is in that awe and reverence that I tye my steelhead flies. It is an offering to a truly magnificent adversary. Nw let me get a little plainer in my description of the reason for "purdy" flies. It's like goin to the prom. When you go to pick your date up for the prom you give her a corsage right? When you picked out that flower arrangement you made sure it was the most beautiful little bouquet of flowers you could find. Cuz you new that it would set the tone for a wonderful night and a great dance. Same goes for the flies we tye. We tye these things with brightness and color, pulsation and movement because the fish is worthy of nothing less! We tye love, admiration, respect, and awe into our flies becasue we can and we desire to, not because it is demanded of us to catch them. Man I am thinkin this just may turn out to be an article for Hatches if I work at it. LoL anyways Thats how I feel about the steelhead fly. As for other species, I know where your goin and friend I think you are on to something. I think that there is a good chance that some of your warm water species would enjoy a fly meant for chrome just as much as any other. Go for it!

[SilverArdea 0]

Interesting way to phrase it, flytyinfreak! I've got 25 years in on Great Lakes steelhead and while these fish don't have anywhere near the pedigree of the 'West Coast Steel', I tie my steelhead flies in the same way, for the same reason. It's simply what the adversary deserves! If I want to do numbers, sure, a glo-bug will work. Somehow, this feels so hollow though. A well-done fly finding purchase in the corner of the mouth, after being carefully presented ..then the resulting battle (and subsequent beaching if all goes well) makes for a complete, soul-warming experience.

 

Back to the topic .. eastern fly - no idea what they think it is. Steelhead are aggressive by nature. They're predators. When the water is right and anything gets near these guys, they'll pounce. There's a bit of biology at play to explain why some colors work better than others in a given river/stream on a given day with various amounts of sun or cloud cover. UV and florescent colors also have a basis in the physiology of the trout/steelhead's eyes. Egg patterns would work on rainbows & browns, for the obvious reason. I've also hooked stream rainbows & browns on various bright steelhead flies ..smaller ones (8's and 10's) ..over time, but I think that's largely a curiosity thing.

[Jeremy Parker 0]

Try the salmon flies too!!

 

I had a couple of friends come up from the U.S to fish with me. Wanted to catch the mighty muskie. As a joke I tied a Greenhighlander (Hairwing) on a partridge N low water hook 6/0. Asked them if they had any big flies they just looked at each other. I started casting the fly and oops caught a muskie about 15lbs??

 

Isn't fly fishing cool all fish deserve respect and one way to do this is to tie all these wonderful flies we tie!

 

Blessings,

Jeremy