Starting with steelhead flies?

[coastalcutty]

I've never tied flies, not even one. I'm curious about it, but I'm not interested in trout flies for the most part. I'd much rather tie something to target Steelhead, both summer and winter. Maybe something like a muddler, silver Hilton, other simple hair wing patterns. For winter, probably a hobo spey to start, maybe an intruder style next.
Is this a crazy idea? What's the learning curve here?

 

[the_chemist]

In my opinion most flies are meant to hook flyfisherman. I'd say about 50% of my steelhead have come on some woolybugger varient. Start with the simple classics.

 

[Pescaphile]

Not crazy at all. If you're new to fly tying and you want to tie steelhead flies, then by all means, begin with them.

 

[_WW_]

That's how I started.

 

[Merle]

For sure! I started with tying steelhead flies many years ago. They’re great for learning because they’re so much larger than trout flies. Plus they are so cool looking it’s very satisfying when you get one right. Same goes for saltwater flies.

Once you learn the basic tying techniques you can move on to smaller stuff for trout. It’s easier to learn a technique (e.g. palmering hackle) on the larger scale, and then do it in progressively smaller patterns as you gain skill.

I love tying steelhead and saltwater flies, and will do it just for fun. But the smaller trout stuff I view more as chore when I need a particular pattern in the box.

 

[coastalcutty]

For sure! I started with tying steelhead flies many years ago. They’re great for learning because they’re so much larger than trout flies. Plus they are so cool looking it’s very satisfying when you get one right. Same goes for saltwater flies.

Once you learn the basic tying techniques you can move on to smaller stuff for trout. It’s easier to learn a technique (e.g. palmering hackle) on the larger scale, and then do it in progressively smaller patterns as you gain skill.

I love tying steelhead and saltwater flies, and will do it just for fun. But the smaller trout stuff I view more as chore when I need a particular pattern in the box.

I hadn't considered the size, makes sense!

 

[Millsfly]

about 85% of my tying is for steelhead. I fell in love with the whole deal.

If you can knock out a muddler and a green butt skunk, you're in the game for dryline time

A Hobo Spey will get you very, very far in both summer and winter time when you're throwing tips

onward!

 

[FinLuver]

I had found that watchin’ Alec Jackson’s DVDs to be very helpful, for winging and collaring my steelhead flies…his techniques make for nice, small, clean heads too.

 

[RCF]

My suggestion is to tie any simple, aka not complex, fly to learn and become proficient in learning basic techniques. It makes a lot of sense to learn on larger flies too.

Materials, especially feathers, can become expensive. Once you become proficient then move on to complex and 'prettier ' flies.

Fur/ hair can and is one of the hardest materials to master. After 50 years I am no where close. Quality of the product is very important and should not be overlooked IMHO.

I can remember my first large brown trout I caught on a fly I tied. I taught my daughter how to tie. Her first trout she caught was on a fly she tied. Special memories...
.
After 50 years of tying, and a lot of rabbit holes, I like simple flies that work. My favorite fly, a dragonfly nymph, It is only 3 materials: deer hair, chenille, and Marabou. KISS works!

 

[Kfish]

Tie whatever gets your stoke going, even if you don’t fish it. I had a steelhead phase when I tied a lot of them since they’re some of the most beautiful patterns out there.

 

[Long_Rod_Silvers]

I've never tied flies, not even one. I'm curious about it, but I'm not interested in trout flies for the most part. I'd much rather tie something to target Steelhead, both summer and winter. Maybe something like a muddler, silver Hilton, other simple hair wing patterns. For winter, probably a hobo spey to start, maybe an intruder style next.
Is this a crazy idea? What's the learning curve here?

Learning curve now is a lot quicker now. Find a few you tube tutorials and follow along step by step. You'll have fishable flies in no time.

 

[J Watrous]

You could do a lot worse than a Hoh Bo Spey fly in winter. Super easy to tie, few materials and low cost, versatile, and effective. Ditto intruders.

Muddler in summer.

And, if you get bored tying like I do, an Intruddler tied on a tube can be effective anytime of year and almost any water conditions and type.

 

[Merle]

You could do a lot worse than a Hoh Bo Spey fly in winter. Super easy to tie, few materials and low cost, versatile, and effective. Ditto intruders.

Muddler in summer.

And, if you get bored tying like I do, an Intruddler tied on a tube can be effective anytime of year and almost any water conditions and type.

Ok...now I've got to see a pic of an Intruddler... sounds pretty interesting!

 

[J Watrous]

Ok...now I've got to see a pic of an Intruddler... sounds pretty interesting!

I'll post one after work.

 

[Brute]

In my opinion most flies are meant to hook flyfisherman. I'd say about 50% of my steelhead have come on some woolybugger varient. Start with the simple classics.

My dad, who was a live bait fisherman, use to say to me when I started to out fish him using artificials around the age of 12..."lures don't catch fish, they only catch fishermen"...some truth to it...

 

[Stonedfish]

Buggers are fairly easy to tie for first time tiers, so something like an egg sucking leech would be a good place to start for steelhead patterns.
One suggestion. Keep your first one then tie a bunch of the same pattern. You can then look back on your first one and see the improvement. Years later you can look back in the first one for a good laugh, at least in my case.
SF

 

[JLT]

Simple single-station marabou tubes are a great place to start as well. You can stack them if you want a two-station intruder-style fly with a bigger profile for winter fish. You can get very creative with tube materials and save a lot of $$$.

April Vokey has a good little video on marabou tubes and stacking.

Simple classic hair wings and muddlers are fun to tie and fish, and are refreshingly easy to cast.

Youtube is your fly-tying best friend.

 

[Pescaphile]

That's how I started.

I started with steelhead flies too.

 

[Merle]

Buggers are fairly easy to tie for first time tiers, so something like an egg sucking leech would be a good place to start for steelhead patterns.
One suggestion. Keep your first one then tie a bunch of the same pattern. You can then look back on your first one and see the improvement. Years later you can look back in the first one for a good laugh, at least in my case.
SF

I often wish I had kept a few of my first tied steelhead flies to look back on. I can still picture them in my mind. At that age, I had no budget for good materials so I had cheap synthetic tails, hair, etc... the completely wrong style hooks, and hackle that was way too small for the size fly, etc... No tying videos in those days, just a book with the material list and a picture of what the finished fly should look like. Good times.

 

[RCF]

I often wish I had kept a few of my first tied steelhead flies to look back on. I can still picture them in my mind. At that age, I had no budget for good materials so I had cheap synthetic tails, hair, etc... the completely wrong style hooks, and hackle that was way too small for the size fly, etc... No tying videos in those days, just a book with the material list and a picture of what the finished fly should look like. Good times.

Many of us could barely afford a book to look at for what a fly looked like and get a material list. And since there was no internet nor YouTube we just created flies from our stoned minds. I would also go 'window shopping' at a fly fishing store to look at patterns. Amazing what we created.

Call me old/old-fashioned, but I have never used YouTube for looking at how to tie a fly. My daughter (Gen Z) ties flies once in awhile. I taught her the basics. I just show her a fly and just figures out the materials and the sequence to tie them on. And due to her good eyes and dexterity, she often ties them better than me ---> don't tell her that...