Woolly Buggers for Steelhead??

[Peter F]

I have never fished for steelhead, but assume that woolly buggers are effective tools. I am curious: what size bugger would you use and what colors do they find the most attractive?

Peter

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Peter F
www.fishingwithflies.com
pfrailey@hotmail.com

[Benjo]

I've caught more steelhead on a black size 4 egg sucking wooly bugger than any other fly. They like black and purple and probably lots of other colors too.

[LWilliams]

Peter: As you know I am a salmon and steelhead guide. And I'm betting you know my response :

It depends on time of year and water conditions as well as where you are on the river (goes to the amount of time the fish have been in the system). Typically, fresh fish will respond to larger, colorfull and flashy patterns while darker fish get more adjusted to stream diets and wary of the angler's arsenal. Water conditions work the same here as with resident trout (high and or cloudy requires larger flies), but steelhead are notorious sight feeders. When visibility drops to under 1-foot (sometimes 2-feet or less) forget fishing.

Add to the above personal preference and you can see where this is going.

Folks who catch lots of steelhead on WBers use WBers alot. I catch lost of steelhead on Sucker Spawn...proportional to how often I use it.

That said, I do not belong to the WB fan club.

[Miltiades]

I fish for great lakes steelies pretty often and have found that buggers work great. I like to suspend them under a strike indicator and dead drift them. The fish seem to like the breathing of the marabou. I tie in sizes 8 and 10. The most popular colors seem to be white, pink, purple, and black. These same sizes and colors may not hold true for sea run fish though. Good luck

Ben

[DG]

#10 beadhead 4xl. Black, tan, olive. So far. Black is generally a good place to start.

Dennis

[WarrenP]

Peter,

I have never fished for steelhead but I'll bet one of your Hare & Herl buggers will work! I love that fly of yours! It has been a great producer for me for trout and is not a difficult fly to tie. Also enjoy your web page.


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Warren

[Bill1227]

Buggers are the "go to" fly for those who swing. Just as, egg patterns are the "go to" for those who drift or float & fly.

Here are some colors and sizes that I use and were made just for Steelhead.

[url=http://www.rainysflies.com/pages/flies.asp?page=salmonsteelhead&offset=40:39c40]http://www.rainysflies.com/pages/flies.asp?page=salmonsteelhead&offset=40[/url:39c40]

[fishingseaducer]

This winter all of my steelhead came to a #4 sand shrimp bugger.I use a bright WB in low light conditions and switch to black later in the day.Other than late fall when I use egg patterns, the WB works very well for a steelhead fly for me.