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The "Favorite Flies" series started a few issues back with a relook
back to the flies that our contributors have submitted and several
new submissions. From this point on we will be concentrating on
newly submitted flies for a particular species and these new flies
will in turn be added to the rich Salmonfly.Net archives. In this
issue we'll see several new and several more traditional flies for
steelhead.
Ard Stetts Flies
 Alaskan
Lady is an original creation of of Salmonfly.Net contributing
author, Ard Stetts. Ard writes "The Real Skinny" series which is
always chock-full of good advice and he always includes many of his
original flies with his articles. In his email, about this fly, he
wrote, "I’m sending you another fly, Alaskan Lady, yeah I know about
the other white Alaska fly… but this is different enough for me to
call it what I want. I fish them in turbid water and can attest to
their attractiveness to fish. " See Alaskan Lady and several
other originals in Ard Stetts's article this issue,
FISH ON!, Now What?
You can see many more of Ard Stetts flies by visiting his
contributor page on this site, The
Flies of Ard Stetts.
Steelhead Flies from the Trey Combs' Winter
Series
One of my favorite fly fishing books is
Fly Fishing for Steelhead by Trey Combs. Mr. Combs is
perhaps one of the finest writers about the history, art, and
techniques of fly fishing for the species that I am aware of.
I really enjoy reading his advice and historical anecdotes, but I
also really enjoy tying his flies. His Winter Series
steelhead dressings were developed as a "fast sinking fly that swims
well under tension" and that "work equally well for high,
discolored summer water, and fresh spring-run steelhead". They are really, both traditional and
newer patterns dressed in a particular style for a purpose and to
find out more about them, I would suggest that you read pages
468-470 of
Fly Fishing for Steelhead. What follows are my attempts at tying the Winter Series flies. Click on the links for the patterns and more
tying tips.
 Midnight
Sun is one of my favorite's in the Winter Series. It is
appropriately named color combination of yellows and oranges that
remind you of just that, but more importantly, have become
successful attractants for winter-run steelhead. Trey Combs likes
this fly for water of some color, mentioning
that Jimmy Hunnicutt took two 20 plus pound steelhead on the
Dean with a full-dressed Midnight Sun
 I
am not necessarily displaying these in order, but I would have to say that
Pink Pearl is one of
my next favorites. It is the aesthetics that appeal to me, though, and I am
not the fish. Trey Combs recommends this fly in his book for the same conditions
as the Midnight Sun and he says he has also caught some fine summer fish on this
fly, the Midnight Sun, the Skykomish Sunrise (below), and the Winter's
Hope (below), dressed down and fished grease-line.
 Some
of the flies in the Trey Combs Winter Series are traditional flies
dressed with marabou.
Winter's Hope, a traditional fly usually tied as a
featherwing, is one of those. This is another fly that he likes for
water of some color and he'll overdress it for for badly discolored
water.
 Winter
Orange is yet another fly with attractive coloration for
human and fish eyes. According to Trey Combs the Winter Orange
attracts steelhead in clear and discolored water and also
notes that dressed down with shorter wings, it is a good clear water
pattern in sizes 1 and 1/0. I find the fly attractive in all sizes!
 Coal
Car, modeled after the Randall Kaufmann fly, is one of
the flies that Trey Combs says he overdresses for badly discolored
water in winter but will dress down and use for summer-run fish as
well. Perhaps it is appropriate to mention here that the reason the
marabou plumes are tied shorter for each section is that in addition
to providing the slimmer profile, it helps prevent the marabou from
wrapping around the hook. ...Makes sense.
 Mr.
Combs says he thinks of
Winter Red as a clear-water pattern "generally
fishes it then, though the combination of red and cerise are 'hot'
and very visible". For some reason, I am not exactly sure why,
he writes that the first wing should extend to the end of the tail
(unlike the other flies in the series), but I am sure there is good
reason for it.
Winter
Rose is another in the series that fits into the
general category for high, discolored water and for fresh spring-run
category, but given a few of these in your fly box, I am sure you
can put it to use for many conditions. It is less flashy than many
winter steelhead flies and would probably work equally well for
steelhead in clear water conditions.
 Skykomish
Sunrise, a fly modeled after the colors in the
famous fly originated in the 1940's by by Ken and George
McLeod. Trey Combs likes this fly for water of some color an
mentions it as one of the flies that he has caught some fine summer
fish on, dressed down and fished greased-line style.
 I
think of a purple fly as a summer fly, but Trey Combs uses
an overdressed version (with three wings) of
Winter Purple
for
badly discolored water in winter. There is also a photo in the book
of a Winter Purple with a two-part wing and red tail which I assume
is the dressed down version for high discolored summer water or less
turbid winter/spring water.
William Lovelace Fly Series
 William
Lovelace has several traditional steelhead fly patterns listed in
his article for this issue, "Favorite Flies, Fly Shops, and Rivers",
but my favorite is
Mack's Canyon Blue, a Mark Melody variation of
the well-know Doug Stewart fly. Take a look at Bill's article and
see more of the traditional flies that he has on display.
That's it for another month. Each month, we'll be presenting new "Favorite
Flies" and targeting different species, so there will always be new
flies and fresh ideas to look forward to in addition to the ones
submitted by contributors. As always, Salmonfly.Net
invites other contributors to submit their flies or ideas. That can be
done by filling out and submitting the form on the page,
Showing Your Flies or Photos on
Salmonfly.Net.
Happy Fly Tying,
SPB
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