Fishkisser99 asked for it

So here is the questions, bugrodder folks.

What would be in your steelhead box if you could only have 6 (or so) steelhead flies?

Just for reference here are my 7 (in no particular order):
1. Freight Train.
2. Spade (w/dubbed buggy body).
3. Popcicle (slightly modified from original).
4. Night Dancer (agin slightly tweaked, no wing).
5. Beats Me (Very cool pattern by Bill Alspatch).
6. Green Butt Skunk.
7. Spawning Purple.

Of course in varing sizes (usually 4-1/0, but a few 8's as well). I only wish I could feel comfortable with 6 or 7 flies. I am a freak and carry about 40 different patterns wherever I go...

Midwest Version:

1. Bead Head stone

2. Green Caddis Nymph

3. Springs Wiggler

4. Egg Sucking Leech or Leech Bunny in Black

5. Green Butt Skunk

6. Wilson Nymphette (Lar Dogs Creation)

At the top of any list for steelhead flys should be whatever you use on top for me that would be some type of a muddler variant followed by the original skunk on light wire so it can stay up on top 80% of the time. the rest don't have names but look a lot like Spey flys tyed in subdued colors smacking of tradition amd always fished with a dry line.
Unless its decjanfebmar. in which case I'll use a sink tip and some big ugly thing made out of Marabou ,whatever that is, in too bright of colors.

Doesn't matter any six with a combination of some brights, darks and different profiles what matters is picking 6 flies your confident in. The list you get from others are the flies their confident in. Many fly anglers get too hung up on the fly. What matters the most is lines, presentation and hooks

I'd like to second Rich's comment. Someone once said that "the fly that won't catch a steelhead has never been tied", and looking at some of the things that gear fishermen routinely catch fish on would certainly bear that out. In the dim, distant past, when I used to fish gear, a few strands of Glo-Bug yarn were as effective as anything else (and were what finally convinced me that I would be able to catch winter steelhead on flies). Presentation is probably the most important factor, but without the psychological impetus of confidence, in technique and in the fly, it's unlikely that anyone could stick out those long hours between strikes. That said, I usually favor these:
Cold water and high flows (late fall, winter and spring)- Marabou spiders in bright fluorescent colors or blacks and purples (let your imagination run wild)and some of the classics like the Skykomish Sunrise, Purple Peril and Brad's Brat, in sizes up to 2/0, depending on conditions, fished with sinking heads.
Warming water and low flows (late spring through fall)- Spade, I like to tie them with a brightly-colored butt (hot orange, fluorescent green or kingfisher blue) fished subsurface on a floating line. Grease Liner, Mikulak Sedge, Steelhead Bee, or almost any October caddis pattern, waked or riffle-hitched, in sizes 6 and 8.
I'm partial to flies that are easy to tie, particularly in the winter when the necessity of fishing near the bottom means sacrificing lots of flies to the rocks and snags.

[This message has been edited by Preston Singletary (edited 09-02-2000).]

Rich and Preston,

I asked mostly in the vien of fly tying (not fishing) I agree entirely with Preston on the point of it not being what you use, but how you use it. A friend of mine used to take great pleasure in picking up anyhting he could find on the bank (old corkies, nasty hand painted spin-n-glo's), tying it on and catching fish. He was a walking lesson in confidence that the fish just did not care. Don't get me wrong, he has his favorite lures and flies too though, but he never lost sleep about what was on the end of his line if it was drifting at the right speed and in good water.

Thanks all,