Love em’, hate em’ or ignore them. Egg fly patterns are always on the menu for steelhead, summer, winter, spring and fall. Fly fishers who target steelhead that are feeding selectively on eggs from a specific redd or spawning bar sometimes get very particular about the size and color of egg pattern they fish, because selective feeding requires a sort of “match the hatch” finesse to get the grab.
Oft times, however, steelhead egg patterns are acceptable to fish just as long as they are able to bee seen and presented at the right depth and speed. The Steelhead Egg patterns that will be featured as part of this early 2012 fly-a-thon include some of my favorites that have been received well by steelhead over the years in a wide variety of water conditions.
This steelhead egg fly, the TRD (The Real Deal) is one I usually fish in dirty water, or high steelhead-green flows.
Jay Nicholas
February 2012
TRD (The Real Deal)
Thread: Lagartun 95 D Fl. Orange
Hook: TMC 2457 #6
Bead: Hareline Plummeting Tungsten Bead, gold – 3/16”
Rear body: chartreuse Fizzle Chenille
Egg: Fl Orange Frizzle Chenille
Egg Veil: Hareline Egg Yarn – Salmon Egg
Jay, excellent pattern..look forward to trying this one next winter in a few different veil/body color combos.
where can i buy this fly???