hi i just started fly fishing about a year ago got the salmon figured out but still have some problems on steelhead fly selection if you could tell me a good winter pattern i would be greatfull for the help i fish the olympic rivers thanks for your help

Of the thousands of patterns out there for winter runs, I think it can be boiled down to a few generalizations...summer run fishing adds some more variability, as does targeting multiple species, but I'll keep it on native winter runs.

A few different sizes, of a few different colors.

Small, medium, and large sizes of blue, purple, black, and combinations of those three colors, tied in either marabou, bunny, or both.

That's about it...these are very aggressive fish, and they like the swimming action that the bunny or marabou provides.

Weight them differently for different depths and current speeds, and/or carry different sink rate lines for the different depths.

I'm not a hard core flyfisher, but even my hard core flinger friends agree that when all the arguing and tying is done, the above will still account for the great majority of fish.

Fish on...

Todd

First off Todd is a gut’s and bug’s man!

To start off with I would start with Single Wing Flies, Marabou Patterns this is a good starting point.

Go to a fly shop and look at a few of the patterns. Color is a choice that can vary upon what the water looks like and time of day.

I like Spey Flies.

Eeeeeeuuuuuuwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Nice flies! H2H
You tied them your self, yeah?

Guilty as charged...but at the end of the day, if I haven't caught any keepers, I can eat the rest of my bait!

All Homer can eat is the extra cork off his two hander!

Talk about eeeuuuwwww, Kerry!

Fish on...

Todd

I have actually drift fished with flies tied on large Tiemco hooks with marabou wings...and a body/tail tied out of a squid tentacle.

I tie them up the night before and keep them in the fridge...if I don't get hung up and lose one, it will stay on for a couple of hours before I need to swap it out with another.

Since I use my vise to tie them, and actually put a hackle on the head and a marabou wing over the tentacle...

...would it count as a fly?

Not in flyfishing only waters, of course, but give me a little credit for the original idea!

Fish on...

Todd

If not, I bet he could build me one.

Whattayathink, Homey?

Fish on...

Todd

BAIT

We got away from the original topic a little. Here is a link to a bunch of patterns for steelhead.

http://www.angelfire.com/wa/salmonid/patterns2.html

Several pages of pictures and recipes. Hope this helps.

Don't forget pink bunny leeches. Black and purple too as already mentioned.

I do well with green, red, white and orange but skunks.

Here's another source for steelhead fly patterns: http://www.fishingnorthwest.com/flypterns.htm