I am tying some flies up for a gentleman out west who cannot find this pattern anymore. He said it’s called the Okie Fly and he sent me his last one, thirty years old.
It seems to be going well reverse-engineering it but I have my curiosity up now wanting to know more about it’s history including how come a west coast steelhead fly came to be called Okie Fly?
Anyone have any info/history on this one?
I’m not familiar with the fly but perhaps it was named after the Okie drifter. The okie drifter is a hard foam/plastic thing, shaped like a glob of salmon eggs that slides over a leader. It is used by steelhead drift fishermen to float their hook/bait just off the bottom.
Read “The Grapes of Wrath.” Just kidding.
But seriously, having grown up in California when there was still a lot of evidence of the influx of “Okie drifters” ( that group would include the parents of one of my best friends in high school ) from the dust bowl years, I do wonder if the fly might have been imported to California by those folks ? Or the name some how derived from that experience ?
I was wondering the same thing a little. My father-in-law was born in OK, moved to CA as a youth and finally returned in later years to live out his life in SE Oklahoma. There was a part of the N. California where OU caps were all the rage he told me.
Wow… haven’t seen this fly, in probably 15 years, or more!
Jay, you “win the huge prize”, ( a dozen nightcrawlers), because you actaully guessed the origin on this very old Oregon/Washington/Northern California Steelheading fly!
Fly fishermen wanted something to imitate the extrememly popular “Okie Drifter”, which was a made originally out of hard plastic, molded to look like a glob of eggs.
Later on, they were made out of a semi-transparent “gel like” soft plastic. Steelheaders, using the “Okies” would simply slide them down a leader, to stop above a single hook. Often, they’d also spray or dip them, in Salmon Roe oil and/or, fish alluring oils.
Fly fishermen, (sorry, I have no idea, “who” the first tier was), wanted something like this, and also “soft and pliable, like the gel type Okeis”. So, they made the “Okie Drifter Fly”, out of either very full and dense wool, or, chenille, like the sample shown. Often layering the chenille two and three layers deep, to imitate the “softness” of an egg cluster, when I Steelhead would mouth it.
This is the first one, however, I've ever seen with a BLACK marabou tail!?! All the ones I've ever seen, were tied with a WHITE, or later on, a crystal flash tail to also imitate the "milt" from the male.
Robin, I really like the ones you tied up on your blog, too! Nice looking flies!
Yahoo!! a dozen crawlers. I had a hunch.
Perrault’s Standard Dictionary of Fishing Flies has the following recipe for the Okie Fly:
Tail: Black or dark brown bucktail
Rib: Gold oval
Body: H.O. (Hot Orange) fluorescent wool
Hackle: H.O. tied wet
It is credited to Grant King
Thanks a bunch, Jay!
Like I said, have seen the fly for years and years, fished here on the West Coast and had no idea who came up with it. Interesting, too, that the real recipe calls for a dark tail, (and bucktail, to boot!?), because I’ve always seen them tied with the “milt imitation” white marabou tail!??
Even Robin’s sample, at 30 years old, has a marabou tail!?!
Actually it’s kiptail although that does not come through well in that photo.
And yes, thank you for that reference!
Jay,
I’m Paul’s supplier and here is your dozen + added dozens;http://www.ourvitalearth.com/shop/images/Red%20Worms.jpg
Isn’t Paul a good guy?
Doug 
Thak you very much Doug and Paul. I can use those as seed for my new business Jay’s Bait and Hackle. Maybe I’d better keep my day job though.
[b]Got this tip[/b]. Seems there is an Okanagan Valley up in B.C.
I liked the Dust Bowl Okie version better but am afraid that Okanagan Valley is more likely.
