Estaz Stone

This is a simple nymph for great lakes steelhead. The Estaz Stone is my go to nymph for all water conditions. Unlike other stonefly patterns its simple to tie and doesn't require multiple steps or many materials.

Hook: MFC 7073 size 8-14
Thread: black 6/0
Weight: gold beadhead (optional)
Tail: black biots
Body: black oval tubing
Wingcase: MFC Thin Skin
Thorax: Estaz
Thorax Colors: pink, chartreuse, orange, blue

STEP 1: With a MFC in your vise, attach your thread behind the beadhead and wrap back to the tie-in-point.

STEP 2: Take 2 black goose biots and hold them with the convex sides together.  Tie them in as a tail and split the with your thread.

STEP 3: Tie in a piece of small black oval tubing.  Advance your thread 2/3 the way up the hook.(Photo 3A)

Wrap the tubing 2/3 the way up the hook, secure the tubing with several pinch wraps and tie off. (Photo 3B)

 

STEP 4: Tie in a piece of 1/4th in wide black MFC Thin Skin for the wingcase (Photo 4A). Tie in a piece of regular Estaz (Photo 4B).

 

Photo 4A

Photo 4B

 STEP 5: Make of abdomen with 3-5 wraps of Estaz.



Pull the Thin Skin over the Estaz and secure with several thread wraps.  Whip Finish and add a drop of glue.

Tyler Straight

Custom Tied Steelhead Flies

steelheadflies@me.com

CKOF Website Design

countrykidsonthefly@gmail.com 

Steel Juan Worm

The Steel Juan Worm is my variation of the popular Orvis steelhead fly the Eggi Juan Kenobi. The Steel Juan Worm is essentially a san juan worm with an egg in front, like a Egg Sucking Leech. Instead of having a glo-bug egg like the Eggi Juan Kenobi, the Steel Juan Worm has a 6mm Otter's Soft Milking Egg.  This is a good steelhead fly for all water conditions, and since it looks different from normal steelhead flies its a good choice for the pressured PA waters.

Hook: MFC no. 7045 size 10
Thread: 6/0 (color to match vernille)
Weight: beadhead (optional)
Body: vernille
Egg: Otter's Soft Milking Egg 6mm
Colors: (vernille/egg) brown/tango, brown/tangerine, red/tango, red/tangerine, pink/tangerine

STEP 1: With a MFC No. 7045 size 10 in your vise, attach your thread and wrap back past the tie-in-point. (Photo 1A)


Photo 1A

Take a 2 1/4in piece of vernille and tie it in so that 3/4in extends past the bend. (Photo 1B)



Photo 1B

STEP 2: Advance your thread to the mid-point between the tie-in-point and hook eye. Be sure to leave enough room for the Otter Egg.  Bring the vernille forward forming a loop, leaving approx. 3/4in sticking forward.

STEP 3: Now take a 6mm Otter Egg (Tango and Tangerine work good) and push it over the eye of the hook. Bring your thread underneath the egg and make several wraps in front to secure the egg.  Whip finish and cut your thread. Your fly is now ready to be fished if you choose not to do the next step.

STEP 4: If you want to you can burn the ends of the vernille with a small lighter. Be careful not to burn to much or burn the egg which will ruin the fly.  Remember this step is completely optional, it only makes the fly look a little nicer to the fisherman and has no affect on the steelhead. Please read my warning below.

***Warning***: Since this is Country KIDS on the Fly I am going to make this statement, if you are a kid DO NOT DO THIS STEP WITHOUT IMMEDIATE PARENTAL SUPERVISION!!! Also do not do this in your fly tying area. Fly tying glues are HIGHLY TOXIC and materials are HIGHLY Flammable. Exercise caution.

Well there you have it, a nice steelhead egg/nymph for steelhead. Try it the next time you head out to the creeks.  If you catch anything email me, I like to here from fisherman.




The finished fly.



Red worm with Tango/Silver Flash egg.

Brown worm with Tango egg.



Red worm with Tango egg.

Tyler Straight

Custom Tied Steelhead Flies

steelheadflies@me.com

CKOF Website Design

countrykidsonthefly@gmail.com 

Ice Dub Sucker Spawn

Ice Dub Sucker Spawn is a bright highly visible egg pattern for steelhead in high dirty water.  I tie this fly with Glo Bug Bling yarn instead of the regular Glo Bug Yarn. The bling yarn has added flash which makes it more visible to fish.  Tie this fly up in several sizes and color for when the water is slightly off-color.

Hook: MFC 7045 size 10-14
Thread: 6/0
Body: Glo Bug Bling Yarn
Flash: Ice Dub
Colors: pink, chartreuse, orange, blue, egg, peach

STEP 1: With your MFC no. 7045 in the vise. Attach your thread and wrap back to the tie-in-point. Take a 8in piece of Glo Bug Bling yarn, pull the yarn into 3 pieces for size 10 hook, 4 for size 12, and 5 for size 14.  Tie the piece of yarn at the tie-in-point and secure with several wraps of thread.

STEP 2: Form a loop in the Glo Bug yarn as you did for the Blood Dot and Estaz Spawn. 

STEP 3: Take a clump of Ice Dub (the same color as your Glo Bug yarn) and tie it in several more wraps. 

STEP 4: Advance your thread forward and form a second loop in the Glo Bug yarn.  Secure with another 3 wraps of thread.

STEP 5: Repeat 3 and 4 to form a third loop with another clump of Ice Dub between the two loops. Form a small head and whip finish.

Ice Dub Sucker Spawn when wet.
 

 

Tyler Straight

Custom Tied Steelhead Flies

steelheadflies@me.com

CKOF Website Design

countrykidsonthefly@gmail.com 

Trainer's Coho Wet Fly

 Trainer's Coho Wet Fly was invented by John Trainer of Binghampton, NY for Salmon River Coho Salmon. Coho Salmon (known as Silver Salmon in Alaska) ascend Lake Ontario tributaries in October usually peaking around 1-2 weeks after the Chinooks. Although smaller than their bigger cousins (avg. 8-15 lbs.) Cohos are known as strong fighters. Coho have a preference for hot pink flies (such as the Wogs used in Alaska). This fly is most effective swung.

Hook: Daiichi 2441 or MFC 7099bk size 8
Thread: Black 6/0
Body: Pink Diamond Braid
Wing: Pink Finn-Raccoon
Hackle: Pink Guinea

STEP 1. With your Daiichi 2441 in the vice, attach your black thread and wrap back to the hook point. Tie in a length of pink Diamond Braid and advance your thread to 1/4 th. in. behind the hook eye.

STEP 2. Wrap your pink Diamond Braid up to your thread and tie off. Cut a piece of pink Finn Raccoon hair about the diameter of a pencil. Remove the guard hairs and under fur. Tie in the wing using a pinch-wrap.  The wing should be about the length of 1 1/2 hook shanks.

STEP 3: Tie in a pink guinea fowl feather.

STEP 4: Make 3 wrap of the guinea fowl. Tie off the feather. Whip finish and cut the thread.

A Coho Wet Fly tied on a pink MFC Salmon/Steelhead No. 7099 salmon hook.

A couple of flies for Oak Orchard this fall.

 

Tyler Straight

Custom Tied Steelhead Flies

steelheadflies@me.com

CKOF Website Design

countrykidsonthefly@gmail.com 

Steelhead Pheasant tail

 

 The Steelhead Pheasant tail is similar to a regular Pheasant tail nymph you would use for trout but with slightly different materials. This is a good pattern for fall browns at Oak Orchard. 

Hook:
Thread: brown 6/0
Weight: gold beadhead
Tail: ringneck pheasant tail fibers
Body: ringneck pheasant tail fibers
Rib: med. gold copper wire
Abdomen: Ice Dub or peacock herl
Wingcase: ringneck pheasant tail fibers or flashabou


STEP 1: With a MFC in your vise, attach your thread behind the beadhead and wrap back to the tie in point. Select 10-15 of the longest rusty colored pheasant tail fibers you can find. Tie them in at the tie in point, the length of the fibers should be the length the hook shank (Photo 1A). Pull the pheasant tail fibers backwards and secure with your thread (Photo 1B).

Photo 1A

Photo 1B

STEP 2: Tie in a length of med. gold copper wire and advance your thread 1/2 the way up the hook shank. Wrap the pheasant tail fibers up to your thread and tie off. Trim the excess butts (Photo 2A). Rib the peasant tail body with the copper wire (Photo 2B).

Photo 2A



Photo 2B

STEP 3: Now is the time to tie in your wingcase. You can use pheasant tail fibers or flashabou to give your fly more flash. I'm going to use pheasant for this fly. Select 10-15 fibers and tie them in by the tips.



STEP 4: You can use several materials to make the thorax. I'm going to use olive brown Ice Dub for this fly, but you can use different colored Ice Dub (pink, chartreuse, orange, blue, olive) or peacock herl (Photo 4A). Dub a large ball of dubbing between the wingcase you tied in and the beadhead. If you use peacock herl, tie in 4 herls by the tips and wrap a ball of herl (Photo 4B).


Photo 4A



Photo 4B

STEP 5: With your thorax complete take your wingcase and pull it over your thorax. Trim off any excess butts.

STEP 6: Add some legs to your fly. Select a large brown/gray feather from a hen back and pull off a clump of barbels. Tie one clump of hen back on each side of the fly. Make several thread wraps to secure the feathers and whip finish. Be sure to add a drop of head cement so the legs don't pull out.

Fish the Steelhead Pheasant tail as you would any egg or nymph. Its particulart effective for early run and spring steelhead and for Oak Orchard browns. Tie up several in different sizes and colors. Try different colors of Ice Dub for the thorax.

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Tyler Straight

Custom Tied Steelhead Flies

steelheadflies@me.com

CKOF Website Design

countrykidsonthefly@gmail.com 

Physco Siren

The Physco Siren is a adaptation of the Autumn Siren.  The Physco Siren works best in the fall when the water is off color.  Try tieing this fly in several sizes/colors.  If you catch a steelhead this fall on the fly, email me the pictures as this is still in the experimental stage.

Hook: MFC Salmon/Steelhead No. 7099 size 8-4, color to match body
Thread: Black 6/0
Tail: black Finn-Raccoon
Body: Diamond Braid
Rib: small silver braid
Wing: black Finn-Raccoon
Colors: orange, chartreuse, pink, blue, red


STEP 1: Place a MFC Salmon/Steelhead No. 7099 into your vise.  The No. 7099 comes in a variety of colors.  You can use a plain black hook or you can use a colored hook to match the color of the diamond braid. 

STEP 2: Attach you 3/0 black thread and wrap back to the tie-in-point.


STEP 3: Cut a small clump of black Finn-Raccoon hair from the skin.  Remove the guard hairs and under fur.  Tie in the clump at the tie-in-point so that the hair extends beyond the hook bend the same length as the hook shank.

STEP 4: Tie in a length of diamond braid and silver braid at the tie-in-point.  Advance your thread to the point where the metal used to form the eye ends.

STEP 5: Wrap the diamond braid forward to your thread. Secure with thread and cut off.

STEP 6: Rib the diamond braid with the small silver braid. Trim off the excess braid.

STEP 7: Take a second clump of black Finn-Raccoon, remove the guard hairs and under fur, for the wing. Tie the wing on the top of the hook shank so the hair extends back 1/2 the length of the tail.  Build a small head and whip finish.

Experiment with different diamond braid and hook color combinations. I fish Physco Siren on a wet fly swing when the water is to high/dirty to use a Autumn Siren.  Tie the Siren to a 9 ft. 2x leader and add varying amounts of split shot above the tippet knot to achieve the proper depth.  When working a stretch of steelhead water, position yourself above a pod of steelhead so your fly swings just in front of them on the cast.  Cast out across the current directly at a 90 degree angle (90 degrees is directly in front of you, downstream shore is 0, and the upstream bank is 180). Follow the rod tip downstream as the fly swings through the current.  The take of a steelhead feel like some flicked your rod tip, almost exactly like a leaf hitting your fly (ironically this fly works best during the "Leaf Hatch").  When your fly stops moving downstream, leave it for 2-3 seconds.  A steelhead may be following your fly and strike when it stops. If you are a right-handed caster, ideally you should be on the left side of the river (facing downstream).  If you are a left-handed caster, do the opposite. 

Steelie Blue

Pink

Red

Chartreuse

 

  

Tyler Straight

Custom Tied Steelhead Flies

steelheadflies@me.com

CKOF Website Design

countrykidsonthefly@gmail.com