Steelhead that boil at a dry fly such as a Pinky are definitely ‘takers’. Rest the water for a couple of minutes and repeat with the dry fly. If nothing happens bring out a Black Magic which as often as not will do the business!
The Silver Hinton was created in about 1950 for the Klamath and Trinity river. It remained one of the most popular and effective patterns on these rivers until the late 1970's. The Green Butt is a more modern variant of the original fly pattern.
The Sol Duc, named for the river on the Olympic Peninsular, is one of the original flies from Syd Gasso that started the revival of Spey-style flies and which have been seminally influential ever since in the development of Steelhead Flies. A...
The Heron flies cover a huge range of variants that are used by Steelhead anglers. The original flies such as the Black Heron came from the River Spey in Scotland. The pattern was revived by Syd Gasso who tied a whole series of heron flies including...
The ultimate searching fly. Based on years of swinging dries on the Skeena and Babine this fly is everything the Waller Waker could have been. Black is by far the best color and evokes the most agressive response from the fish. In addition it is easy...
The Purple Peril originated in the 1940's and is credited to the father and son team of Ken and George Mcleod. The cascade variant of the Purple Peril gives it a modern and effective upgrade and it is considered a popular Steelhead pattern.
The Lady Caroline is one of the best-known of the old Spey flies and is currently the most widely used. With its subdued colours it is at contrast to some of the more gaudy offerings and quite probably accounts for its success, both for Atlantic Salmon...
This is the original Dylan Spey with the bright green body. It is a great fly all year round but works especially well in higher water or in bright conditions. Tied on an Alec Jackson single hook.