New Steelhead Fly Pattern

I know many of us who tie flies for steelhead are always thinking of ways to make the normal patterns more flashy or different. Well, this fall while I was up on Elk fishing for steelhead - during the evening while I was back at the hotel room tying I came up with the idea of combining two of the most successful patterns - the egg and the maggot. Needless to say I could not wait till the following morning to try out these concoctions. My first stop was at the tubes on Rt. 5. Caught three there. As I fished my way down stream to the mouth, I hooked 4 more - landed only one. We all know how finicky the steel were over the past month but this fly seemed to do the trick. I'm thinking it's the movement of the chenille "maggot arms" on the egg that turn them on - either way - try them out. For naming sake - I call it "Herr's Egg"  I'd like to post on here the steps (with pics) on how to tie it but I think you can only post one pic per post.

i think a better name is the steely jester

When your fishing a pod of 50+ in low flows your bound to line afew of them.

Here's the pattern for "Herr's Jester". (I like this name too T.T.) It's really a pretty easy one to tie up - you just follow the same method as tying any egg pattern using McFly foam instead of Glo Bug Yarn because the foam compresses better.

Hook - Daiichi 1150, size 14  or equivalent
Yarn - McFly Foam - color of your choice
Maggots - Chennille - color of your choice. Watch which ytpe of chennille you use though since some chennille will not melt on the end when you burn it. Instead it will flare up.


1. Start by tying a thin strand of foam about two inches long on the bottom of the hook so that when you trim the foam there will not be a gap under the hook.

2. Cut two full pieces of McFly foam about two inches long and slightly spread the foam apart. Cut two pieces of white chenille and one piece of red about two inches long and "sandwich them between the two pieces of foam.

3. Place and tie this "sandwich" on top of the hook taking care to make sure that the thread overlaps itself as your wrapping. Cinch down on the thread evenly and tie off.

4. Now you have a bunch of McFly foam tied on the hook which needs to be trimmed. The usual method of tying Glo Bug Eggs is to grab the entire bunch and trim it off in one cut. You cannot do this since you now have the chenille tied in. Instead - first cut off the thin strand you tied on the bottom. Cut this off even with the vise head or about 3/4's of the hook gap. Then separate the foam from the chennille and cut down tight to where the chennille is tied in. You will have to make a few cuts to do this. Afterwards you can trim it to make the round egg.

5. Trim the chenille about 1 inch long and with a bic lighter melt the ends giving the chennille a maggot look.

***That's about it for the pattern. It does catch Steel. It did for me at least. Hope this helps you all. Herr's Jester - Thanks T.T. for the idea.

I use medium ultra chenille in white for the maggots and medium antron chenille in fluorescent colors for the egg.  I tie a longer piece of the ultra chenille along the length of the hook leaving exposed 1" ends and tie in two 1" pieces at 90 degree angles at the tail and the head.  I then tie the egg in the middle with the antron chenille.  After tying off the head I then singe each end of the ultra chenille finishing off the maggots. It's quick and easy.  Trying to dubb an egg with egg yarn or McFly foam is too difficult and unnecessary.  I use Oregon cheese, pink and cerise antron chenille for the egg colors.

theyjustswimup-glad you liked them buddy.I just got back from Elk Creek for four days and used them also.They were not the only fly I caught fish on but I did have luck with them. The chenille does tend to wear down after a few fish though so you may want to try different types. It seems as though it may be a fly that the steelies have not seen yet and that they are just laughing at it so hard they have to give it a taste! It does work though. Tight Lines!