Irish Angler - All About The Fly

This fly is the consumate Steelhead dry fly pattern created by Bill McMillan.  It is small and buggy and it not only a very eatable lead fly but it is an irresistable follow up fly once a fish is discovered. 

Also called 'Disco Tom' after the Fall Caddis it imitates and the 'Tom Thumb' it is derived from.This fly is based on an old, traditional Canadian pattern used for imitating the travelling sedge on interior lakes, the Tom Thumb.  By using a burnt orange body and a larger size we do a good job of imitating the October Caddis.  While Steelhead are known not to eat they seem to remember the October Caddis from their youth because they are eager to dine upon October Tom. 

My friend, Carl Engel, uses a Boss variation called the Pinky which has been used on the Babine for over 20 years and probably has accounted for more caught Steelhead than any other single fly.   This fly plows water like a tugboat while the pink wings are visible to the angler like you cannot believe.  Steelhead LOVE black dry flies. 

This is a knock off on McMillan's Steelhead Caddis but tied with Brown-Olive Silk-Berlin Wool to look like the caddis which are all over the Rogue and its tributaries. 

This fly is not a dry at all but I would never go fishing with my box of dries without this fly.  When the Steelhead refuses to eat a well presented dry one must sometime resort to a wet fly.  This is the one.  This variation of the "Doc Spratley" is tied entirely of pheasant tail with a black collar so it is just a big Pheasant Tail Nymph.  No trout can resist!  This fly in size 3 is the big producer on the Thompson for brutes up to 25 pounds.  Put a handful of these in your dry fly box!