dafack01

I'd LOVE to catch some steelhead! I've got a giant list of fish I must catch (muskie, salmon, steelhead, striper, Amazon Peacock bass, tarpon, bonefish, tuna, ...)

I'm a novice fly tier. I'm very artistically inclined with good hands and an eye for detail, so I should catch on to this fairly easily (cross my fingers). I can tie clousers, so I'm hoping this pattern isn't much harder. I've ordered Dave Whitlock's video on it, thinking it'll help me out.

Is this pattern hard to tie? Particularly the Swimming and Deep versions. I'll mess with the floating one later.

I got particularly interested in it from a trip trout fishing yesterday. I fished with a Deep Sheep Shad on a 1/0 hook with a decently wide rainbowish-pearl strip of tinsel added to each side. The trout were HAMMERING it as frequently and as hard as they do my favorite jerkbait (which is a VERY good thing). I'm guessing the flash, the profile, and the erratic clouser-like action is what triggered 'em. I'll probably tie it in shad, trout, and skipjack profiles for bass, trout, and striper.

I never hooked one, because trout short-strike baitfish immitations a lot, and the giant bendback hook didn't lend itself too well to hooking short-striking fish. I'm thinking about downsizing to a #6 streamer hook with a #8 or so stinger hook tied on to catch the short-strikers once i learn to tie it.

Any suggestions on how to rig this (especially the swimming shad) to work right with a stinger hook?

So which is "better"? I really don't think either one is better. Trout can be harder to catch and require more knowledge, skill, observation, and attention to detail. Bass, on the other hand, are just plain fun to catch. Especially smallmouth. They'll destroy a topwater lure/fly, crush baitfish patterns, and fight as hard as anything in freshwater (though neither has the endurance of a carp). Get a good one in the current, and it'll fight even better because of that big, broad body. Trout have more "reward" and bass have more "entertainment value".

To muddy things up, Bass can act like trout, selectively sipping mayflies and other dries. Trout, on the other hand can act like bass, annihilating baitfish immitations and mouse flies. ESPECIALLY the big browns.

So which one? Me, it depends on the mood I'm in. I love both. I'm not a good person to ask.

How's it going? I just started fly fishing this past July. My first fish was a 17" Smallmouth I caught out of my favorite stream. Talk about beginner's luck! I live in Louisville, Kentucky, so I'm lucky enough to have some killer fishing within a reasonable drive. My favorites are Smallmouth and Trout. Just started tying last week, but all I've tied so far are some crappy looking rainbow trout colored clousers. Hope to get pretty good at this stuff, though, 'cause i'm already hooked on fly fishing. I figure this place will help me get better at it. Happy fishing!