I was looking at flies in the Cabelas FF catalog last night. Will hit the new store opening tonight but some of the flies are huge! Jumbo Critter, String leach, Pick Yer Pocket, Stinger Prawn, etc. New to tying these stinger type patterns. It gave me some good ideas for my tying but are you tying 5" patterns?
KOA-1,
A Spey Rod should be able to cast those Jumbo Flies. Google “British Columbia Steelhead Flies.”
Doug
KOA,
In a word, nope. I do have some MOAL that are pretty long, but most of my steelhead patterns are on size 5 and 7 Alec Jackson Spey hooks. I do have some monsters tied on Alec Jackson spey hooks in a size 1.5, but those are for sea run Dolly Varden in the quinault system. By the way, a purple pick-your-pocket was a great fly for me last year.
Just got back from the new Cabela’s in Lacey. If your going for fly fishing stuff, be prepared to be disappointed. Very small section with a limited slection. If your looking for gear fishing stuff you have a tone of choices.
REE
Not worried about casting but effectiveness of the large patterns.
I stick to flyfishing only, unless I forget the rod. I fish with gearheads who coax me to the dark side but I am very stubborn.
I’ll hit the new Cabelas after work. Need to see Tom in his new store.
I hear the Salmon is putting out steel.
KOA-1
I’ve been frustrated by the Pacific Northwest Steelhead for about 30 years now. (Or, is that; "I’ve been FISHING, for Steelhead that long, now?). Whatever, they both, mean the same thing.
Anyhooooo, I don’t throw the “BIG flies” at the steelies. Most of the rivers I fish, here on the Oregon coast just aren’t large enough to require a Spey rod and fly set up and I can’t see myself really enjoying throwing a fly the size of a small dog, with my 6 wt.!!
That DOESN’T MEAN, however, that they won’t/don’t work and catch fish! It’s just my personal preference is all.
I like the smaller, much more traditional steelhead flies, like “Green Butt Skunk”, “Skykomish Sunrise”, “Paintbrush” and a couple of my own, “thunked up patterns”. I seem to manage somehow, in spite of this, to put a few fish into the net each season, anyway.
Just my input!
I am a trout bum by nature and only dabble in steel. When I do, I tend to use egg patterns under an indicator :shock: or swing more traditional type flies. There are many who swear by the big leeches though and they are probably more successful than me. I have tied up some big MOAL leeches to try when the mood strikes me.
I have done well with black or gray string leeches, 6" long or so. Not much fun to cast, however, but they do catch fish at times. Are they necessary? Probably not.
DG
If you are not keen on using the big flies, you could try some of the patterns used for sea run browns (Sea-trout) here in the UK.
http://www.dtnicolson.dial.pipex.com/page23.html
There are 5 pages, most of them are Sea-trout flies.
They don’t have to be tied on double hooks if they are not legal.
Not only for Steelhead. I have used 3" and longer streamers in small streams and caught 8" browns on them. Suddenly a 6" fly for a 30" fish doesn’t seem so bad.
Big flys won’t always produce, but the strikes you get on them are QUALITY. No guessing, the fish usually hits so hard it hooks itself. My reasoning: The fish needs to kill the larger prey quickly to reduce risk of injury. Most predators will act the same way. Sometimes it is fun just to mix it up.
I like large flies for steelhead but NEVER use large hooks…you will lose more fish on a long shank hook because of the leverage it must endure during a battle. A Large fish rolling will come free of a long shank hook as very little pressure is required to leverage that hook free. Think of adding a cheater bar to a socket wrench to loosen a tight bolt. It doesn’t take much effort to loosen that tight bolt with the cheater bar, yet without the cheater bar, you couldn’t budge that bolt. The long hook shank acts just like a cheater bar against the hook point.
Stinger patterns MOAL, Intruders, and tube flies that use a short hook are the way to get a large fly with a short fulcrum point and more fish landed.
orespey,
That first steelhead article mentioned fishing next to the shore in shallow water and that is exactly where I was taught to fish on the Deschutes. I think there is some serious turbid water on the Clackamas right now.
Doug
Doug
I like a bit of turbidity to the water; as long as I can see my feet at knee deep and the gauge is below 12.5 I’m good to go. The fish feel “safe” with the off color and they are more easily reached closer to shore using fly angling methods whereas they would have been in deeper water during clear flows. Time for big bright 6" string leeches. By Tuesday it should be just right and the clarity improved to more favorable conditions.
On the Deschutes when the white river is pumping out concrete, many guys go home when they SHOULD be fishing, 2.5’ of clarity is all a steelhead needs to see a fly if you know where to cast it.
BTW, that winter steelhead video was taken two weeks ago thats on my website.
[quote=“orespey”]
Doug
I like a bit of turbidity to the water; as long as I can see my feet at knee deep and the gauge is below 12.5 I’m good to go. The fish feel “safe” with the off color and they are more easily reached closer to shore using fly angling methods whereas they would have been in deeper water during clear flows. Time for big bright 6" string leeches. By Tuesday it should be just right and the clarity improved to more favorable conditions.
On the Deschutes when the white river is pumping out concrete, many guys go home when they SHOULD be fishing, 2.5’ of clarity is all a steelhead needs to see a fly if you know where to cast it.
BTW, that winter steelhead video was taken two weeks ago thats on my website.[/quote]
orespey,
Many years ago I went with Bob Toman for summer steelhead on the lower Deschutes. It was very hard to believe a steelhead was going to strike my fly not more than 20 ft directly below me. I lost count of my casts that day and when it reached close to 100 degrees, it turned out to be the worst trip of my life. I didn’t even get to see a Rattlesnake!
I’ve only caught one steelhead on a fly (7lbs) and that was an accident, about 30 miles from Estacada.
Thanks for your Link!
Doug P.S. The weather Saturday was wet & cold and today was warmer & wet, which will be a problem because the freezing level is going back up.
If you want to try something different, here are flies from the 1860s West of England.
They were meant for big fish on fast running streams.
They would also fit in with orespey’s theories on long hooks.
Cutcliffe 3
3. Size No. 7 or 6.
Body: (a) Dark peacock?s harl. Rib, gold twist.
or (b) Cow?s hair of purple tint. Rib, gold twist.
Hackle: Black red. Conranch furnace cockerall…
Cutcliffe 22
Body: Pale cream/yellow dubbing, Rib, flat holo silver.
Hackle: Cream hackle, Conranch.
Cutcliffe 38
38. Size No. 7 or rarely 6.
Body: Dark blood orange. Rib, gold twist.
Hackle: Black Conranch…
Orange Cutcliffe
Wet fly 8 used.
Body: Orange ?possum. Rib, holographic gold tinsel.
Hackle: Orange grizzle cockerall saddle hackle.
I think that the Orange Cutcliffe would benefit from being tied on
the short shank hooks that the others are on. They are on Drennan bait hooks,
note - the hook sizes on the pictures are the correct ones.
There is a Daiichi 1640 equivalent but I do not know if they supply the larger #4 & 6 hooks.
Donald,
Some really nice ties!
My Daiichi Dealer catalog does show the 1640 in size 20,
up to size 2.
1640 (Bronze) Round bend, straight-eye, 2X-short shank, reversed, forged.
Denny
KOA-1,
I’ve heard it asked;
What do migrating steelhead eat?
I’ve heard it answered;
Purple articulated egg sucking bunny leeches.
They work on the Grand Ronde in Washington.