SteelHead is great. Does anyone know of any great patterns besides copper johns and pheasant tail nymphs. If so please tell me the pattern and could you please give me the recipe in how to make the fly.
Thanks so much,
JWM
http://www.westfly.com/patterns/steelhe … rain.shtml
poke around that site.
Brings up a question…a question like this…is it regional specific or even river specific…e.g. I don’t think there are many of us that would use a Copper John or PTN for steelhead on the Deschutes or probably anywhere in the NW…OK so now somebody is going to say they do …but I think there are regional differences…
Green Butt Skunk size-4 Lower Deschutes, Oregon.
http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php
search the fly gallery
Egg patterns, glo bugs and sucker spawn.
Duck, copper johns, PTNs, etc are staple steelhead patterns on some rivers in northern California, like the Trinity. I wonder if they are not used farther north because no one ever bothered to TRY them there, instead following the advice of anglers before them. I know when I was living in SW WA there were “accepted” patterns and anything outside of those were scoffed at, although I occasionally caught steel on them while trouting. My first steelhead (East Fork Lewis) was on a #14 dry mayfly.
As for the original post, there are entire books dedicated to steelhead flies, and any fly shop would probably have them, especially shops on or near steelie rivers in your area.
In terms of the steelhead I have caught, my most productive flies have been…
glo bugs
san juan worms
stonefly nymphs
mayfly nymphs
PMD and BWO dries
big hairy dries
black or olive streamers
Dennis
DG…I think you are very correct.
Gutbomb hit the nail on the head if you?re thinking of the Erie Tribs. Hard to go wrong with Egg and Spawn patterns. I like a variety of colors to match the conditions like, orange, pink, egg, white, off white, cream, light yellow, chartreuse, and even sky blue, etc. Smaller nymphs like BHPT, Princes, GRHR as well as a selection of wets can be effective also. Wooly buggers in olive, brown, white and black work also. Other times various streamer patterns can be very effective (emerald shiner, and other whites have worked well for me).
www.flyfishsteelhead.com/gr.htm
Grande Ronde River (eastern Oregon)
www.flyfishusa.com/flies/stlddw-4.htm
Bomber dry fly
Waller Waker, Bee dry fly
Many yrs ago, while trout fishing on the Clackamas River, a 7 lb steelhead rose to the surface and took my Orange Bucktail Caddis dry fly. It was one of the most exciting things that has ever happened to me. That steelhead took my fly so gently that I didn’t realize it was a steelhead until the fish turned and showed it’s white belly and then my heart almost stopped. Luckily the river was shallow in the middle and I chased after it downstream and finally landed it. (3 lb leader)
I think flyfishers that use dry flies for steelhead are thinking outside the box.
Doug
These are Steelhead patterns.There are 10 pages.
http://www.angelfire.com/wa/salmonid/patterns2.html
These are for Sear-run Cutthroats, might be woth a try.
http://www.angelfire.com/wa/salmonid/patterns5.html
Eggs and legs is the local theory in S. Oregon. Girdle bugs, egg patterns and ice nymphs or other smaller nymphs. I’ve also had good luck with a simple bead head with palmered marabou in various colors.
Crystal Meth (the fly, not the substance), Crystal Buggers, Sucker Spawn, and blood dots are some of the ones I’ve had good success with. All are pretty good trout flies as well. 
They’re also easy ties.
Here’s a link for some additional ideas.
For the Erie tribs, sucker spawn, egg sucking leeches and wooly buggers, in various colors and sizes will cover you. Those are my staples.
Hands down best fly for me is the olive wooly bugger with brown hackle, tied on a #6 - #10 Mustad 9672, weighted with lead wire or substitute (2/3 of the shank).
Joe
I’m in the Great Lakes, still working on my boxes for the Fall runs. Here’s a couple pics of my egg/nymph/hairwing box so far. I’ve got 3 more rows of nymphs to tie, plus another 3 rows of hairwings. Once this box is finished I’ll work on a box with just streamers and speys.
Working left to right-
Estaz Eggs
Sparkle Braid Sucker Spawns
Chrystal Meths below in same colors
Caddis Eggs
Egg Sucking Sperm(tought o see the sperm, but they’re just veiled estaz eggs with a short piece of diamond braid sticking out the rear)
Fleas
Scuds
Caddis Pupa
From right to left-
Prince Nymphs
Zug Bug Variants
Yellow and Brown Beadhead Stone nymphs
Bead Head and standard PT Nymphs
Pearl Hairwing
GB Skunk Variant
Blue Charms
Green Highlanders
Rusty Rat
for erie trib steelhead i like the green weenie, elk creek weenie, egg sucking leech, egg sucking stone, egg patterns, general nymphs and the bead belly emerald shiner
Flypimp,
That is an awesome box, Did you tie all those?
Flypimp,
That is an awesome box, Did you tie all those?
Yes, and thank you!
also i like caddis imitations my favorite is the joann caddis