Needle Tube Flies for Great Lakes Steelhead
Flies and photographs
by Bob Schoeller
This article is based on
extracts of correspondence from Bob Schoeller, an accomplished
fly fisher and fly tyer, who fishes for the steelhead of Lake
Erie and its tributary streams. Bob has had great success this
season (2008) with a selection of
beautiful steelhead flies which he has dressed
on
Grays Needle Tubes,
a newly developed range of ultra slim
stainless steel fly tying tubes, developed and made in Scotland
by
Grays of Kilsyth. Bob has used the longer lengths of needle
tube to create a range of stunning baitfish patterns, which have
proven extremely effective fished from the lake shore, while the
shorter needle tubes have been dressed as small colourful
shrimps, for use later in the season on the tributary streams.
Bob's baitfish Needle Tube Flies
Bob
writes, "I have tied
most of the needle tubes in baitfish patterns that I use at the
mouths of the tributaries where they enter the Great Lakes. We
fish at night or early morning so I assume it would be similar
to your sea trout fishing, although we fish mostly in the lake
itself at this time of year rather than the rivers. In the lake
I will fish with flies that resemble baitfish that the steelhead
feed on (Juvenile Smelt and "Shiners"). Later in the season,
when the fish actually enter the rivers in big numbers, I will
switch to more colorful attracter patterns and shrimp
patterns. I have landed a number of fish to 10 lb without a
problem. Most of the time the tube has slid up the line out of
harms way as the fish runs off line. I use a tiny size 16 or 15
tube treble with a very small eye for this fishing, and the hook
is held just barely by the junction tubing. The needle tubes
have proved to have just the right sink rate to allow me to fish
off the beach while at the same time not hanging up on the
bottom in the shallows. Sometimes at night the steelheads will
be feeding in water only a foot or so deep with their backs
sticking out of the water. You can hear the splashes and see the
wakes they make by moonlight. It can be quite a nervous
experience to be casting into waters when these fish are close
at hand.
One taken on a Needle Tube Shrimp
Once the steelhead have run
some distance up the streams, I switch flies to nymphs below a
strike indicator or Irish style shrimps, albeit more colorful
than your average shrimps. Here are one or two needle tube
shrimps I tied up last night (see the photograph to the
right). I am going to give them a go on
the river tomorrow .....
Orange and purple has been a
very good color combination for steelhead here. I'm not sure
that any UK patterns use this color combination, but it works
for me. I've also been putting a strip of pearl flashabou on
either side of the tail and have incorporated 2 pig bristles
into the pattern (sort of a hybrid pot bellied pig/Irish
shrimp). I have shown this fly to one of my fishing companions
and we both agree that it has the "buggie" look that is
essential for a good shrimp fly. I'll let you know how we do
.....
I did get out Friday and
tried out the shrimp on your needle tubes. Fantastic! .... I took a
fish in the first drift and ended up with seven fish in 3
hours fishing .... best trip yet this year .....
A bright fresh run Erie Steelhead
I got out again today and
had a cracker of a day! I really got lucky and got some
very nice fish this morning ..... all on your needle tubes. They
certainly have helped my fishing this year. It's the best year
I've had to date due in no small part to the needle tubes. Most
of the fish we caught were ones that had been in the river for a
week or so and had a little color, but I did get one really
bright fish as you can see ..... Fresh in! The fish were
running through the shallow rapids as we walked in the dark down
to the pools we wanted to fish.. You could hear them splashing.
By daybreak they had settled into the pools and we had good
sport. The three of us landed 19 fish for the morning (all on your
needle tubes) ..... The biggest one was a very fat hen fish of
16 lbs ..... the best of the year thus far for me. "
The flies illustrated were dressed by Bob on Grays Needle Tubes,
developed and manufactured in Scotland by Grays of Kilsyth. They are
available online at
www.graysofkilsyth.com
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