Drain's 20 Tied By Scott Howell Fly Name Drain's 20 Category Steelhead Hook Partridge CS10/1 Bartleet Traditional or Alec Jackson Spey (Daiichi 2051) Size(s) #5 through #1.5 Tip/Tag Fine Silver Oval Tinsel Tail Natural G.P. Tippets under Yellow/Brown Saddle Hackle fibers (Toucan substitute) Butt Fl. Yellow Floss Body Chinese Red UniWool (or Fl Red Floss) Rib Medium Silver Oval Tinsel Underwing Red-dyed Golden Pheasant Breast Feather(s) Collar Purple Chinese Hen Hackle Wing Natural Grey Squirrel accented with sparse Holographic Silver Lite-Brite Cheeks (optional) Jungle Cock Head Danville's no-wax 6/0 Black Flymaster thread

This beautiful version of Drain's 20, tied by Scott Howell, vividly displays the color combination that is one of the most spectacular of all Steelhead flies - red, purple with a Jungle Cock cheek. In our discussion of this fly, Scott mentioned that "there are several Irish Shrimp patterns that really 'pop' because of those colors" and that the jungle cock cheek really seems to make many NW Steelhead flies "complete". Another thing he mentioned was that Wes Drain was one of the first noted NW tyers to use fluorescent colors in his work, something that I was not aware of. See Scott's notes about this fly below.

Scott Howell's Notes: This pattern was conceived by legendary NW angler Wes Drain, and appropriately named after he took a 20 pound 7 ounce Steelhead on the Skagit River - a Washington State record for almost two decades.

You can see more of Scott Howell's flies at The Flies of Scott Howell.