This fly represents Jay Nicholas’ effort to provide fly tying instruction that is fun, showcases new materials, features basic and/or advanced tying techniques for new and weathered tiers, spark your imagination, and so on.
This fly is a version of a Great Lakes steelhead fly we saw on the “blogosphere” and decided to pass on to you. It was tempting to claim the pattern as an original, but most likely it has already been claimed by at least a dozen people already.
Several things about this fly are appealing: for example, it is pretty simple to tie, but the technique for using Greg’s Laser Yarn is still important to learn; the colors have steelhead attraction power, the colors look nice in our boxes; the fly could be fished as an egg or flesh fly in addition to inducing a minnow eating response, and it is capable of being fished with a traditional sink tip on single and two hand rods.
We intend to give this fly a dunk here in Oregon fishing for cutthroat and salmon too, and our bet is that it will fish well and the fish will eat it. Alaska trout and salmon? Why not?
You decide. A separate video will feature the GLSM in yet another color combination.
Key materials of this Great Lakes Shimmer Minnow steelhead and trout fly are noted as follows:
Thread – Veevus 8/0 or 10/0 black or red
Hook – Daiichi 1530 #6/8
Tail- Senyo’s Laser Yarn, pink
Body – Chartreuse Crystal Chenille Medium
Wing – Ice Dub Minnow Back Shimmer Fringe, Chartreuse/Peacock back
Head/Collar – Senyo’s Laser Yarn, Fl. Blue
Way to go….another good one. Made a slight change on mine. I replaced the red tail with some of the lower wing material and moved a bit of the up for gills.