Believe in pink.
Egg patterns and steelhead are like bread and butter. They just work together. One of my favorite patterns is to use craft balls, a synthetic fur, and heavy white thread. I’ll thread the craft balls onto my thread (maybe a dozen) and wrap them onto the hook shank a few at time just like a dubbing. I can usually get a few flies done before I reload. The synthetics seem to get caught more in fishes mouth so I stick with it. Typically, I’ve used orange, but lately I’ve been having more luck with a pink color. And these things take nothing to tie up and are incredibly inexpensive.
About a year ago I tried using some of the UV resins to build heads on sculpins. It worked well. I’ll continue to use it. But while i was tying up some egg patterns because I have some friends coming into town (one of which worked for Loon back in the day that makes the UV wader repair) and I noticed something strange. When the UV light hit the pink eggs, they turned a brighter orange. Steelhead are notorious for being deep water predators in the ocean and their eyes physically change as the enter fresh water. They feed in the ocean based off of UV light (maybe).
I never knew this and apparently it’s been known for decades. Williams Brand lures says, “If you take Chinook salmon, for instance, the dominant receptors in their eyes are blue-green when they are in the deep-water cycle of their lives. When they move into the shallow water—when they are spawning at the end of their life cycle—their receptors become red. The same thing applies with steelhead, but that’s a short-lived change. Their eyes change in terms of reception and light as they come from deep to shallow when they are feeding.”
So when I put a pink egg (left) next to an orange egg (right) and hit it with UV. Here’s what happens.
I’ll. let the video speak for itself but as an angler and fly tier this hit some nerves and it may be especially important during our upcoming high water time until the dust settles from this storm. I already know hot pink is a great color for eggs because they’ve worked for me in the past and I’ve really only used them during high water. But it makes me think that during early hours or later hours in the day, it might just actually be a little more something that the fish can pick up since they are fresh in the system and are still using UV to see prey. Regardless, it’ll be worth throwing a few of the hot pink patterns in your box and give them a try. I’ve heard crazier stories and this one is already a proven fact. We also know these fish are elusive and try to find their deep holding areas away from bright or direct sunlight. I would guess until their eyes adjust, being in the river has to be horribly bright and takes time to get used to it. Crazy stuff. Have a good week.
