Redwing Blackbird Steelhead Pattern??

[willapabay]

IN THE VIDEO, "FLY FISHIHNG FOR PACIFIC STEELHEAD" with Lani Waller, he uses and shows a fly he calls the red wing black bird. In the video he uses this fly quite a bit and catches steelhead with it.. I have looked at one such fly posted on the patterns site but it does not look anything like the one in the video..

Basically it is more of a black body , possibly a silver rib much like a skunk pattern, then a very free flowing red wing..

I can not find a pattern for it, if someone knows of this version please let me know.. feel free to contact me at my email, kinfolk@centurytel.net

thank you,

[Southsound]

Found a photo of a version of the Red-winged Blackbird at the flyfishusa.com website and it looks alot like the one you described. Here's the link:

http://www.flyfishusa.com/flies/stl-wet-other-p-r.html#Red%20Wing

Haven't found the recipe yet.

Regards

Steve Cole
Oly WA

[willapabay]

thanks for the link, I would most definately say that is the fly in the video or at least a first cousin version.
If anyone has used this fly in this pattern I would like to hear from you about it. thanks, Ron along the Willapabay, SW WA.

[FT]

This is a fairly old pattern out of the Rogue area of OR and the Northern CA steelhead rivers. Here is the original pattern:

Tail: Red hackle fibers
Body: Black chenile
Rib: Oval or flat silver tinsel
Hackle: Black
Wing: Red calftail or bucktail

The original was tied in the old style chenile bodied, hair wing steelhead fly on a stout, down eye hook like the Eagle Claw 1197 with a rather fat body and a wing that was at least 2x hook shank long. Fortunately, this style fly is no longer the norm because the wing was very prone to wrap around the hook. The fly is now tied on standard loop eye salmon irons with a much sparser and shorter wing (the wing usually ends about midpoint of the tail these days), which promote better swimming and keeps the wing from wrapping around the hook.

Lani uses a variation of the original. He ties his:

Tip: oval silver tinsel
tail: red hackle fibers
body: black dubbing, fuzzy yarn, or medium chenile
rib: oval silver tinsel
hackle: black
face hackle: red dyed guinea
wing: red calftail

I tie the fly as a spey, which I first tied back in 1992 and that my good friend Manuel (who used to own a fly shop in Port Angeles) liked the looks of and bought and sold about a hundred dozen per year.

Anyhow, here is the way I tie my Redwing Blackbird Spey:

hook: Alec Jackson Spey #3,#5,#7
tip: fine oval silver tinsel began at hook point
body: black dubbing
rib: oval silver, 5 turns (size to match fly size)
hackle: black spey feather
throat: red dyed mallard, teal, or guinea
wing: 2 scarlet red dyed golden pheasant rump feathers, tied flat in the
manner of a General Practitioner
head: either black or red thread

optional underwing of 3-4 strands of red pearlescent Krystal Flash can be tied in after hackle is wound, but before throat is tied in and wound.

Although the Redwing Blackbird has largely been forgotten today, it is a very effective fly, especially in the fall.

[willapabay]

THE PATTERN FOR THE REDWING BLACKBIRD THAT YOU GAVE ME THE URL TO WAS THE CORRECT PATTEN I WAS LOOKING FOR.
I HAVE SINCE FOUND THE BELOW LINK ON HOW TO TIE THAT SPECIFIC PATTERN FOR REDWING BLACKBIRD . THANK YOU

http://www.diablovalleyflyfish.org/fly_redwingblackbird.htm