Nymphs & Stones & Suckers....

[AtticaFish]

OH MY!!! Hoping to get over to the Vermillion or Black river yet this year (or early next) and get after some Lake Erie steelhead. Never fished them but plan on taking both spinning gear and my fly rod. Have been talking with some guys on a local forum to get some fly patterns that i could translate into jigs. I kept to their suggestions for the most part, but i have a hard time following the rules.

Nymph Patterns
Heads: 1/32 Gold Plated - Sickle
Tails: Pheasant tail
Body: Peacock or dubbed bodies
Wire wrap: 28 ga. green & bronze
Wing case: Pheasant on top jig & raffia on bottom 2

Stonefly/Hellgie Patterns
Heads: 1/32 - Mustad hooks but not sure on size... longer than normal. haha.
Body: Raffia over dubbed body. LESSON LEARNED - the dubbed body is MUCH easier to deal with than the dry hackle that i used in my hellgramite tutorial!!! I guess a hard headed dog can learn new tricks too.

Egg Sucking Stonefly Pattern
Details are the same as above with the head just painted orange.

Egg Sucking Leech
Heads: 1/16
Leech: Black rabbit zonkers

Also had suggestions for more minnow imitations for late fall fishing and eggs during the early spring, will be working on those next.

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

Those are all killer lookin baits.I've never fished for steelies but have caught a lot of trout. Those will catch trout so you should hang steelies with those as well. I'd tie a few bugger jigs to go along with those,especially a few on plated heads. Have some folks in NY that smoke the steelies on the 1/32 bugger jigs. Pink and black combo is a hot color this year,nickle plated head.

 

[jjsjigs]

You can do a sucker spawn on those jig hooks with an orange head. That is a killer on Elk and Walnut. Right now they are hitting cream colored spawn's right now.

 

[Pup]

Beautiful ties AF. Those would work well in Indiana's steehead waters.

 

[Hawnjigs]

I've always thought sinking fly patterns could actually work better as jigs. Looks like you're really getting the buggy look down.

Those Mustad points look like they could use a hone - Ultra Point steelhead hooks are sharper out of the box, forged, and stronger tempered.

 

[AtticaFish]

Thanks everyone!

JJ1 - I over-looked the buggers, going to have to make some up for my steel box. Pink chenille body - black hackle? I know the color combos all depend (on alot of variables, lol) but the extra confidence in a known catching pattern helps.

jj'sjigs - sucker spawn was another fly that was suggested to me, have to try it on a jig as well. Thanks.

Hawnjigs - Mustads were the strongest thing i had on-hand in these smaller sizes, will have to hit them with a sharpener to be sure. i do have some Tiemco - scud and nymph - hooks coming that i ordered last week. Thinking of crimping lead shots on some of them to 'make' my own jigs out of them. Never used Tiemco... hoping they are stronger.

 

[JoJoPro]

Love those ties!!! They inspire me to try tying some nymph patterns on jigs. Thanks for sharing.

John