Steelhead Flies

The Egg-Sucking Leech is a Pacific salmon and steelhead streamer that suggests a dark leech trailing a loose salmon egg. The black marabou tail pulses in current, the chenille body gives the fly a simple silhouette, and the fluorescent orange head adds a strong trigger in stained water, low light, and fall salmon runs.

The Skykomish Sunrise is a Pacific Northwest steelhead swing fly built around a bright orange front body and a pale hair wing. This version uses the common hairwing dressing: red hackle-fiber tail, silver rear body, orange chenille front body, orange throat, and white calf-tail wing. Fish it on swung presentations in rivers for summer and winter steelhead, especially when a visible attractor with classic proportions is useful.

The Intruder is a versatile steelhead and salmon streamer built around a long-shank hook, bead head, and marabou tail and wing. It imitates baitfish and leeches and is effective on both Pacific Northwest rivers and Atlantic salmon lochs. The pattern flies through the water with a pulsing, lifelike action and produces in a wide range of conditions, from clear low water to stained spring runoff.

The Bunny Leech imitates a swimming leech, sculpin, or small dark baitfish with the pulse of rabbit fur doing most of the work. Fish it for Pacific salmon and steelhead in fall rivers, tidewater edges, and travel lanes where a broad, slow-moving profile shows well in stained or broken water. The tying is straightforward, but good material control matters because rabbit strips can bulk up quickly.