Winter Steelhead Flies, Skandit, Yellowtail

Winter Steelhead Fly Directory This may be the most complete selection of winter steelhead flies ever assembled on one page. All pictures are mouse-over for fly names. Click flies for more information.
Spot On Prawn, Pink	Spot On Prawn, Red	Silvinator, Black & Blue	Silvinator, Black & Orange
Bantam, Black & Blue	Bantam, Green Butt	Bantam, Orange	Bantam, Pink
Fish Taco, Black	Fish Taco, Pink	Fish Taco, Purple	Fish Taco, Chartreuse
Fish Taco, Red	MOAL Leech, Black/Blue	MOAL Leech, Black/Chart.	MOAL Leech, Black/Purple
MOAL Leech, Hot Pink	MOAL Leech, Pink/Purple	MOAL Leech, Purple	Pick 'Yer Pocket, Black
Pick 'Yer Pocket, Orange	Pick 'Yer Pocket, Pink	Pick 'Yer Pocket, Purple	Prom Dress, Blue
Prom Dress, Copper	Prom Dress, Fuchsia	Prom Dress, Purple	Cone Head Leech, Black
Cone Head Leech, Olive	Cone Head Leech, Purple	Cone Head Leech, Chartreuse	Cone Head Leech, Hot Pink
Cone Head Leech, Red	MarabouTube Fly, Blue	Marabou Tube Fly, Red	Marabou Tube Fly, Purple
MarabouTube Fly, Candy	Metal Detector, Chartreuse	Metal Detector, Red	Alaskabou, Volcano
Alaskabou, Blue Moon	Alaskabou, Popsicle	Agitator, Black & Red	Agitator, Purple & Flame
Agitator, Sandy Candy	Deep Eyed Wog	Articulated Leech, Black	Articulated Leech, Purple
Big Black	Big Purple	Big Red	Egg Leech, Black
Egg Leech, Purple	Egg Sucking Sculpin, Black	Egg Sucking Sculpin, Olive	General Practitioner, Black
General Practitioner, Orange	General Practitioner, Purple	Super Prawn, Orange	Sand Shrimp
Hoh Bo Spey, Black/Blue	Hoh Bo Spey, Green Butt	Hoh Bo Spey, Orange Butt	Hoh Bo Spey, Orange/Purple
Hoh Bo Spey, Wine	Hobbit Spey, Black	Hobbit Spey, Orange	Hobbit Spey, Purple
Green Butt Spey	Jack O'Lantern Spey	Sun Kissed Spey	Expression Spey
Tandem Tube, Black/Blue	Tandem Tube, Egg Sucker	Tandem Tube, Fleshy Red	Tandem Tube, Orange/Pink
Tandem Tube, Purple	Tandem Tube, Red & Orange	Foxee Prawn, Purple	Foxee Prawn, Orange
Foxee Prawn, Black	Foxee Prawn, Popsicle	Sig Intruder, Red/Black	Sig Intruder, Purple
Sig Intruder, Pink/Orange	Sig Intruder, Olive	Sig Intruder, Black/Orange	Sig Intruder, Black/Blue
Sig Intruder, Green Butt	Sig Intruder, White	Guide Intruder, Black	Guide Intruder, Chartreuse
Guide Intruder, Pink	Loop Leech, Black/Chartreuse	Loop Leech, Black	Loop Leech, Pink
Loop Leech, Red	Loop Leech, Purple	Jumbo Critter, Black	Jumbo Critter, Black/Blue
Jumbo Critter, Black/Red	Jumbo Critter, Chartreuse	Jumbo Critter, Pink & Orange	Jumbo Critter, Purple
Tube Snake, Black & Blue	Tube Snake, Purple	Tube Snake, Orange	Tube Snake, Pink
Tube Snake, Red	Al Green	Miles Davis	Willie Nelson
Skagit Minnow, Black	Skagit Minnow, Chart/White	Skagit Minnow, Pink/Orange	Skagit Minnow, Purple/Blue
Stinger Prawn, Black	Stinger Prawn, Chartreuse	Stinger Prawn, Purple	GP Spey, Black
GP Spey, Orange	GP Spey, Purple	Wombat Fly, Orange	Wombat Fly, Blackbird
CONTINUED FROM ABOVE: On the average, winter steelhead flies are getting larger. This is not only because we are learning how to tie larger flies, but more importantly we are developing the tackle and skills to fish larger flies more comfortably. Certain strains of steelhead prefer large flies. Many of them return to our rivers during the winter months. Development of the most important new patterns, is most naturally by the hardest working professional fly fishing guides. If you are a guide, your career is dependent on your ability to be able to get your clients hooked up. It stands to reason if you spend 100-200 days a year fishing for steelhead, you are going to learn a lot about how to catch them. Pictured above is a selection of flies that are on the cutting edge of winter steelhead fly development. These patterns were developed and proven by the area's best winter steelhead guides: Mark Bachmann, Mike Kinney, Brian Silvey, Marty Sheppard, Tom Larimer, Brian Kite, Scott Howell, George Cook and Charles St. Pierre. Our Company roots are in winter steelhead fly fishing. We have the most complete selection of winter steelhead fly fishing gear in the region, if not the world. Our aim is to remain the leader and bring you the best winter steelhead fly fishing tackle available, and this includes the best selection of winter steelhead flies. We also intend to make this collection most convenient to access on the internet.

California Yellowtail, Seriola lalandi dorsalis

California Yellowtail are one of three sub-species of Yellowtail Amberjack, which are most easily identified by their bright yellow caudal fins. The streamlined body has three primary colors: purple/blue on the back, white/sliver belly, and a goldish/yellow stripe that runs from the eye to the tail. The yellowtail's range is circumglobal, in subtropical waters. Yellowtails are found as far north as the southern coast of British Columbia during El Niño years and as far south as Chile. Yellowtails are prominent game fish from Southern California, into the Sea of Cortez and down the Pacific Coast of Mexico. They are most often found around structures, such as offshore islands, rocky reefs

or kelp beds. The California Yellowtail is carnivorous and feeds on a variety of fish. Mackerel, sardines, anchovies, squid, and crab are common in the yellowtail's diet. Often, the California Yellowtail are found in schools feeding at the surface of the water, as well as deeper down.
The all tackle record is: 92.1 pounds.
The 10 KG. (22-pound) test fly rod world record is: 31 pounds.

Trout size Yellowtails like the two juveniles pictured above were caught from a school that probably contained about 100 fish. They were no match for the 10-12 weight tackle used for larger specimens of the same specie, but would crush tackle used for similar size trout. At first these fish showed little fear and literally fought over the flies we presented to them. However, after about a dozen were caught they became much wiser and became extremely selective and difficult to catch.

As the water cools in November, steelhead size yellowtails (8-pound average) are prominent over shallow reefs in the Sea of Cortez. They are voracious feeders and very strong fighters. Action can be so furious that a succession of these fish can wear an angler completely out.

As the water surface temperatures rise during the summer months, yellowtails head for deeper water and become unavailable to fly fishers. Larger yellowtails normally stay in deep water except when they spawn in the spring. It is during March/April/May time that the largest yellow tails are caught by fly anglers. Loreto, Mexico is the California Yellowtail fly rod record capitol.

Loreto Area's Fly Fishing Records
Species	Tippet Class	Weight of fish	Date
Yellowtail	Men's 3 Kg.	15 lb. 3 oz.	January 30, 1973
Yellowtail	Men's 6 Kg.	32 lb. 8 oz.	March 14, 1972
Yellowtail	Men's 8 Kg.	32 lb. 0 oz.	March 27, 1973
Yellowtail	Men's 10 Kg.	31 lb.	April 28, 2006
Yellowtail	Women's 8 Kg.	25 lb.	March 12, 2008
Dorado	Men's 10 Kg.	57 lb. 8 oz.	July 23, 1997

Deep Eyed Minnow, Olive and White Buy
Pattered after the famous Clouser Minnow, this is an indispensible fly for most saltwater destinations. The Olive and White Deep Eyed Minnow is a good imitation of many species of small saltwater fish that larger sport fish feed on. This fly pattern is especially effective when fished deep with a fast sinking line and the heavy eyes help to get it down to a depth where many predatory fish live. These eyes also give the fly an erratic "wounded-baitfish" action when the fly is retrieved.

California Yellowtails find it hard to resist an Olive and White Deep Eyed Minnow.

Troy Bachmann with a Jack Crevelle caught on and olive & white deep eyed minnow...

Many Jack Crevalles have fallen for the Deep Eyed Minnow.

Triggerfish like the one pictured above eat small fish and Deep Eyed Minnows.

In the Sea of Cortez and along the Pacific coast of Mexico, the Olive and White Deep Eyed Minnow is used extensively for many shore-line fish such as all species of jacks, skipjack tuna, cabrilla, pargo, barracuda, yellowtail, triggerfish, and roosterfish. Often schools of smaller size baitfish draw the attention of marauding game fish, even to the point that they will ignore larger specimens of the same specie. Many times we have observed very large yellowtail, jack crevalle and roosterfish targeting bait that averaged less than two inches long when five-inch bait was readily available. This can be very frustrating when all your flies are large and the fish are ignoring them. At first it didn't make sense that fish weighing between ten and fifty pounds would selectively feed on the smaller baitfish, especially when specimens of the same specie were available in larger sizes. It is probably because younger/smaller fish are less experienced and are easier to catch.

			Deep Eyed Minnow, Olive/White These flies are tied on strong, saltwater resistant hooks, using the finest materials available. The machined brass eyes are gold plated. Only the finest Eastern Bucktail is used for maximum swimming action.
Item	Description	Size	Price	To Top
50078-02	Deep Eyed Minnow, Olive and White	2	3 for $5.85
50078-04	Deep Eyed Minnow, Olive and White	4	3 for $5.85
50078-06	Deep Eyed Minnow, Olive and White	6	3 for $5.85

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Skandit? Are Skagit and Scandi lines converging?
SA Skagit Extreme	Rio Skagit Flight	Airflo Skagit Compact	Shooting Lines

Steelhead are Pacific Northwest Icons. The anglers who pursue them are some of the most passionate in the world. Some steelhead anglers spend over a hundred days a year on the water. Around here most of these dedicated anglers use two-handed fly rods...the majority of the time. An angler who spends this amount of time on the water will encounter many different water and weather conditions. Steelhead rivers have a wide range of personalities. Several types of Spey lines may be used throughout the year to maximize your chances when coping with changes of river sizes, fish sizes, and fly sizes, as well as changes in water-temperatures and wind-velocities. The majority of anglers today use shooting head style lines on their two-handers. The heads for these lines come primarily in two styles, "Scandi" & "Skagit". Scandi lines evolved on the Atlantic Salmon rivers in Scandinavia. These lines were designed with long front tapers to give them delicate presentations and extra flight time. Often PolyLeaders are added to these Scandi shooting heads to give them adaptable sink rates. Designers of Scandinavian shooting heads retained the "touch-and-go" anchor used by casters of traditional long belly lines in Europe. Skagit lines are a product of the Pacific Northwest of North America where anglers found that very large flies are productive for Steelhead and Salmon, especially if they were fished near the bottom of a river. At first these lines lacked front tapers because their designers used the floating head of the line to turn over heavy-weight sinking tips, which in turn retained enough energy to turn over very large flies. Skagit lines evolved to present extremely large flies at maximum depth in areas where very little back-cast room was available. Pacific Northwest anglers found that casting very large/heavy flies was easier to accomplish with a dead-stopped "sustained-anchor", and casts such as the "Perry Poke" became popular. Along the Pacific Coast, Scandi Lines gained popularity with summer anglers and Skagit style lines have been more popular with winter anglers. Because many anglers fish year around, it was inevitable that some cross pollination of the two casting styles and line styles would occur. The newest generation of Skagit Heads available from the top three line manufacturers have front tapers to slow the turn-over and extend flight time during a cast. These lines are the Skagit Compact from Airflo, Skagit Flight from Rio and the Spey Skagit Extreme from Scientific Anglers. All of these heads come in all of the weights and lengths to fit the full array of both Spey and Switch rods. The other day Ed Ward stopped by the shop and in the ensuing conversation said that he thought that the Scandi and Skagit style lines and the styles of casts used to employ them were converging into another style called "Modern Spey Casting", or "SKANDIT" (my spelling). We believe this is so. The new M.O.W. Tips from Rio certainly facilitate this approach by making the "touch-and-go" anchor more practical with Skagit heads, and they also perform superbly with sustained anchor casts needed when presenting larger flies. We truly do live in the golden age of Spey Fishing where development is ongoing. MB