Favorite Wet Flies for Early Summer Steelhead
It's that wonderful time of year again. Summer steelhead are arriving in the Northwest! This means early mornings and floating lines. Here are a few of our very favorite early season wet flies:
Duddles' Low Water Purple Green Butt - There are a ton of great commercially available purple green butt skunks, but there's just something extra fishy about this one. Maybe it's the Diamond Braid body or the green head. Hard to say exactly what it is but this one is annually a top producer.
Larimer's Unconditional - Tom Larimer is an excellent fly tier and anyone that has fished with him knows he puts a lot of thought into his flies. The Unconditional, with it's purple/blue/chartreuse color scheme, is a perfect wet for early summers. It's bright and flashy and known to elicit some freight train grabs! Be sure to give this one a shot on the Deschutes in the first quarter of the season.
Sno Cone - It doesn't get any more "Deschutes" than a Brain Silvey pattern. His Sno Cone is a time-tested and deadly wet fly. The pink and purple version is perfectly bright for early summers. Bonus points for the heavy Alec Jackson steelhead Iron. You don't have to worry about a July or early August devil fish straightening out that hook!
RIO's Green Butt Skunk - The ubiquitous Green Butt Skunk is a "don't leave home without it" wet. RIO's version has some particular features that make it a great early season choice. The hot orange tippet tail gives it a bold bright/dark contrast. The body is tied with black Ice Dub for a little extra flash. This version is also tied on the heavy wire Alec Jackson Steelhead Iron for extra holding power.
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See also: Featured Flies | Staff Picks