Brown Trout, Salmon, Steelhead Flies

Founded 1994 by Armand Courchaine

Brown Trout, Salmon, and Steelhead Flies

By Mike Cree

Chamois Nymph

Hook: Size 12 or 14 TMC 2302 or Size 14 or 16 Orvis 1641 hook
Thread: Olive 6/0 Uni-thread

1. Tie in yellow microfibbets or some other short yellow tail material
2. Cut chamois cloth into thin strips and tie in a chamois body
3. Wrap the head with peacock herl and tie off

Easy Stonefly

This fly was created to solve a problem. I was losing flies in fast moving rocky rivers that I did not know well. I like to fish flies right along the bottom in these rivers. This fly looks buggy, is very easy to tie, and you will not cry when you lose it to the rock monsters.

Size 12 or 14 curved nymph hook, 2x or 3x long; TMC 2302 is a good choice
Black 6/0 Uni-thread

1. Tie in two black goose biots, forked, for a tail
2. Wrap a small amount of black dubbing on the hook to taper the body
3. Tie in black vinyl round ribbing material at the tail. Bring thread to the front and then wrap the rib toward the front, leaving enough room near the head. Tie in the rib and cut off off the excess ribbing material. Store the excess ribbing material in your left ear. (I just want to know who is paying attention...)
4. Use black Super Bright Steelhead dubbing to form the head. Leave this fairly long and “buggy” looking.

If you want to add more steps to the fly, you can tie in two black goose biots forked at the head (shorter than the tail biots) before adding the dubbing. Or you can tie in two short black Krystal Flash fibers for antennae at the head. Or you can also tie in black turkey biot quills before adding the dubbing, fold them over the top of the dubbed head, then tie them off at the eye of the hook. Or any combination of these traditional, extra steps.

Egg Patterns

Size 6 to 14 hooks, TMC 105 or Orvis 1641 are good choices
Egg yarn and 6/0 Uni-thread to match color

1. cover 1/4 inch of hook shank with thread
2. cut yarn into 3 3/4th inch strips
3. catch yarn in middle with thread and spread enough yarn around hook shank to cover all sides of hook
4. take just enough wraps with thread to secure yarn (too many wraps will leave a gap in the middle of the yarn)
5. wiggle thread through the yarn fibers to the front of the hook and tie off
6. trim yarn into an egg shape

For variations, you can add a small amount of a different color yarn to create a spot or use a marker. Once you have mastered the basic egg, you can also add a small amount of white marabou, or put two eggs on one hook, or palmer a feather in front of the egg, etc., etc, etc. There are many variations of egg patterns; some use hot colored glue to form the egg, or estaz or chenille.

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