For most winter fishing an 8-weight is almost the minimum required because of the heavy heads that are necessary to get down during high winter flows. As to flies, someone once said "the fly that will not catch a steelhead has never been tied". Thirty years ago, before I gave up every method but fly fishing, I used to gear fish with just a couple of strands of fluorescent yarn; that's what convinced me that winter steelhead would take a fly. There are plenty of simple patterns like the Thor, Polar Shrimp and Skunk that are easy to tie and require few materials.