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What are your favorite Steelhead flies?
How would you present it?
Mine would have to be Spiders, woven nymphs and woven grubs (larva).
These three cover all of my fishing
Soft hackle spiders large or small made up of three basic parts.
The butt, thorax and hackle three basic parts that's it: nothing-fancy just fly
You can fish them wet, dry, damp or hitched.
Build them out of marabou, hen hackles, Schlappen, and yes, even Whitingfarms Spey hackles.
Over the years on large spiders I have started to Palmer a neck hackle into the dubbed thorax section to the fly to support the forward hackles. (Many people say that I build as Spey fly with out the wing (this pattern got divorce from bronze mallard years ago)).
When using marabou I use gunbrushed rabbit for the support forward hackles or plumes whichever you will call it. This gives a better silhouette and dose not collapse under tension.
I tye many nymphs but prefer stoneflies (plecotptera) for the largest Salmonfly nymphs to little small Yellow Sallies.
Here is the tie. I try to keep it simple, tails made out of dacron backing blackened with a felt tip marker, abdomen over hand weave from Kreinik braid, wing cases black Polly ribbon (burned with a wing burner), Legs magic dub, thorax is dubbed with angora dubbing, forward antenna same as the tails, eyes are optional.
The grubs or rock worms (mainly the genus Dicosmoecus or October Caddis) are some of my best producers.
These little gems I prefer to have grub hooks and being US manufactures stop a size six I have my imported for England upto a size one. (But that is another thread.) Head is usually peacock hurl spun into a rope, wings or wing > buds goose biots, abdomen Kreinik braid to fit the size of the hook, I prefer to fish unweighted flies on long leaders and dry lines using classic wet fly presentations (this includes the nymphs and grubs) and working the fly down though mending.
But I have been know to cast tips made out chainmail to get the fly down with the suckers and whitefish are if this is what it takes. But I do not prefer this (it is sort a like drinking blended scotch some thing you would rather not do, but will).
W.W.B.D.
speybum

How would you present it?
Mine would have to be Spiders, woven nymphs and woven grubs (larva).
These three cover all of my fishing
Soft hackle spiders large or small made up of three basic parts.
The butt, thorax and hackle three basic parts that's it: nothing-fancy just fly
You can fish them wet, dry, damp or hitched.
Build them out of marabou, hen hackles, Schlappen, and yes, even Whitingfarms Spey hackles.
Over the years on large spiders I have started to Palmer a neck hackle into the dubbed thorax section to the fly to support the forward hackles. (Many people say that I build as Spey fly with out the wing (this pattern got divorce from bronze mallard years ago)).
When using marabou I use gunbrushed rabbit for the support forward hackles or plumes whichever you will call it. This gives a better silhouette and dose not collapse under tension.
I tye many nymphs but prefer stoneflies (plecotptera) for the largest Salmonfly nymphs to little small Yellow Sallies.
Here is the tie. I try to keep it simple, tails made out of dacron backing blackened with a felt tip marker, abdomen over hand weave from Kreinik braid, wing cases black Polly ribbon (burned with a wing burner), Legs magic dub, thorax is dubbed with angora dubbing, forward antenna same as the tails, eyes are optional.
The grubs or rock worms (mainly the genus Dicosmoecus or October Caddis) are some of my best producers.
These little gems I prefer to have grub hooks and being US manufactures stop a size six I have my imported for England upto a size one. (But that is another thread.) Head is usually peacock hurl spun into a rope, wings or wing > buds goose biots, abdomen Kreinik braid to fit the size of the hook, I prefer to fish unweighted flies on long leaders and dry lines using classic wet fly presentations (this includes the nymphs and grubs) and working the fly down though mending.
But I have been know to cast tips made out chainmail to get the fly down with the suckers and whitefish are if this is what it takes. But I do not prefer this (it is sort a like drinking blended scotch some thing you would rather not do, but will).
W.W.B.D.
speybum