Salmon & Steelhead Flies

Fishing flies fall into one of two categories: Imitators or Attractors. Imitators are tied to resemble as closely as possible what our target species is feeding on at the time. Attractors, on the other hand don't necessarily represent anything our quarry eat More than likely they're just excited or pissed off. Pacific Salmon species don't feed as they pass up their natal rivers to reproduce and die. Hence the flies we use for Pacific salmon are all attractors. (With exception of roe imitations).

With some exceptions, everything I normally tie for salmon and steelhead are attractors. The few imitators are for some rare Western river summer steelhead runs.

Through the years I've been honored to fish with the finest to ever cast a fly. George Haley, Andy Puyans, Larry Breckon, Brad Throgmorton, Lori Cook, Mel Krieger, Karl Mauser, Gordy Heatherington and especially my daughter, Laura. She gave me the moniker GOF (grumpy old fart) one day when we were fishing and I gave her a hard time.

This is the list of the most successful flies that my customers and I have used over the years. Others are available on request. I recommend Trey Coombs' book "Steelhead Fly Fishing and Flies". It's a real winner.

Here is a list of the most requested flies and the ones I've found most effective.