The hunt for Chrome is getting closer...

It's mid-august and I already have visions of fresh chrome steelhead on the end of my 8 weight. I saw a post on the PAFF forum asking for volunteers on a steelhead fly swap so I jumped in. Here's a sneak peak at the pattern I'm tying. This one is called simply "root beer". I learned it last fall on the Salmon River. The fish were taking natural nymphs patterns, and caddis. The brown nymph color combined with the caddis larva shape give you the best of both worlds, with just enough flash on the collar and glass bead to get their attention. Fish it in faster water where the fish don't have a chance to take a second look.


Size 8 Mustad 2x strong caddis hook
Lagartun French Mini-Flatbraid in olive brown (abdomen)
Petite Estaz in brown (collar)
Killer Caddis glass bead in pearl brown


I've also bee working on big stoneflies for Salmon, Steelhead and Browns. Here's one that I'm not quite happy with yet, but I like how it's starting. I'm calling it the Grandaddy stone because of all the grey hairs. Going to make a few tweaks to it. I'm digging the tiny bit of flash in the dubbing.

Saber Stonefly Nymph hook size 8
Black Goose Biots
Uni-stretch body material in black
Swiss Straw in black (wingcase)
Dubbing - Black Hare's ear plus mixed with some cut up Sparkle Organza




And I'm that note, I'm going to catch some sleep. I didn't get around to posting any more about the beach trip over the weekend because the fishing was awful. We did however find out that we're having another boy! Michael is excited to have a little brother. Still working on names though. If it was a girl, it would have been Brook (you can guess why!) but she shot down the names Grayling, Char, and Smallmouth so far. Any other suggestions?