Archive: Fly Pattern Plate #3

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Archive Fly Pattern Plate #3 (Classic Steelhead Flies)

A sampling of traditional, classic steelhead wet flies of the 20th century are shown in fly plates illuminating this fly plate. These flies are from the vise of master fly dresser Dave McNeese of Springfield, Oregon. If you have my latest book, then you have come to know  Dave in Chapter 17. Suffice to say here, the man is simply incapable of tying an ugly, chunky, unruly fly, the everyday likes of which many of us fished happily back in the day when the Beatles topped the charts.

 Please understand that, when you gaze at McNeese’s lovely iterations of such standards as the Purple Peril or the Silver Hilton, before the modern era, no one fished flies of such elegant refinement—save for the wizard Syd Glasso, fishing alone on the Sol Duc on a wintergreen day, hoping for a fresh December fish.

 In typical McNeese fashion, he has imbued these traditional patterns with an exotic flourish—fluorescent white polar bear instead of white bucktail, for example. For the first fly, the Purple Peril, McNeese calls for “fiery brown polar bear,” or brown bucktail. The polar bear in the color specified would be all but impossible to obtain unless ordering directly from McNeese.

Polar bear is legal for Americans to use in fly tying if the person selling the dyed polar bear can document that the animal was killed prior to 1972 and the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Seal is legal to use in Canada, but not in the U.S. American tiers may use some illegal connection to secure the material. But even Canadians find cheaper organic substitutes such as Angora goat. There are also synthetic products that so resemble genuine seal that tiers can be confident that steelhead won’t be put off by the difference.

 Dave offers the alternate to the original because he believes the changes make for a fly more attractive to steelhead and not based solely on aesthetics. I should add that Dave doesn’t need more business.  For as long as I’ve known him—some 40 years—he’s been custom dyeing organic materials for flies from the classic American steelhead bucktail to the most complex of Victorian salmon flies.

Classic Steelhead Flies - Plate 2 of 2

Skunk (Rollin “Rosie” Dexter)

Tag: Fine flat silver tinsel. Tail: Golden pheasant crest dyed red. Body: Black, seal or synthetic. Hackle: Black. Wing: Fluorescent, polar bear or bucktail. Cheeks: Jungle cock. Head: Black.

Skykomish Sunrise (George McLeod)

Tag: Fine flat silver tinsel. Tail: Golden pheasant crest feather, one each dyed yellow and dyed red. Body: Bright red, seal or substitute either organic or synthetic. Rib: Bright red Wing: Fluorescent, polar bear, bucktail, or a synthetic white. Head: White in photo; traditionally black.

Hellcat (Frank Headrick)

Tag: Fine flat silver tinsel. Tail: Golden pheasant crest. Body: Hot pink seal or synthetic dubbing. Rib: Medium oval silver tinsel. Hackle: Fluorescent purple. Wing: Fluorescent white fine polar bear or bucktail topped with golden pheasant crest. Cheeks: Jungle cock. Head: Black.

Golden Demon (old English pattern)

Tag: Fine flat gold tinsel. Body: Medium oval gold tinsel. Hackle: Hot orange. Wing: Dyed fiery brown polar bear or brown bear or brown bucktail. Note: When white bucktails are dyed, the natural fine brown fur takes on this dye as well. A bucktail dyed hot orange changes the brown fur to an altogether new color, a hot orange-brown color. Obviously, the same can be said for yellow and red, and especially the darker steelhead colors: black, blue and purple. The fur is generally shorter and fine and much more useful for tying steelhead flies. Cheeks: Jungle cock. Head: Black.

Polar Shrimp (Clarence Shoff)

Tag: Fine flat silver tinsel. Body: Fluorescent hot orange seal. Hackle: Fluorescent hot orange followed by two turns of teal. Wing: Fluorescent white, polar bear, bucktail, or synthetic fur. Head: Black.

Green-Butt Skunk (Dan Callaghan)

Tag: Fine flat silver tinsel. Tail: Golden pheasant crest dyed red. Butt: Fluorescent green seal or synthetic. Body: Black, seal or synthetic. Hackle: Black. Wing: Fluorescent white, polar bear or bucktail.

Skykomish Sunrise (Dave McNeese)

Tag: Fine Flat silver tinsel. Tail: Golden pheasant tippet, one each, dyed red and natural yellow. Body: Fluorescent red seal or substitute natural or synthetic dubbing. Ribbing: Medium oval silver tinsel. Hackle: One each, red and yellow macaw breast feather. Wing: Fluorescent, polar bear or substitute bucktail or synthetic fur. Head: White.

 Download Information: Fly Pattern Plate #3 is a high-resolution archival plate. Each plate includes a white border and is suitable for high-quality printing and framing. Dimensions: 20” (width) x 16” (height) at 300 DPI. The file is in CMYK format. Click the button below to automatically download the high-resolution image.