Half chickens or half rabbits..

[FcStory]

What are the easiest and most effective steelhead flies to swing.. Would egg sucking leech and buggers work? What about marabou flies? Or should I just buy a rabbit pelt and a meat hook and let it swing in the current? lol

[kweetech]

the answer to all your questions is yes.
Depends on conditions, water depth, clarity, the rod/line system you are using, season, specific river.
Its not a simple "what's best" question.
I use different flies, on different rivers, at different times of year...small to large, bright to dark, heavy to light.
Start with flies you have confidence in..and start fishing. Change (or not) as you go and learn.

[Redneck Scholar]

Your question only partly relates to flies, since the perfect fly presented poorly and/or in the wrong place will catch way fewer fish than a decent fly presented right and in the right place.

You can't go wrong with a bugger or a rabbit leech. Color, silhouette and flash vary with conditions. That's why we call it fishing

[FcStory]

Can i swing flies on a floating line?

[BWANA-J]

Sure can, I do it all the time. Either pick up or make a selection of sinktips using T-11 or T-14. I have them from 4 ft to 8 ft. When using sink tips keep your leader/tippet short, I use 2 ft 20lb mono leader and 12 lb mono for tippet, the closer you keep the fly to the sinktip the deeper it'll run. Correctly done the fish will see the fly instead of leader/tippet so you can use stronger tippet than you use for regular flyfishing, heavy tippet will result in less breakoffs. Try swinging big sculpin and clousers just hang on to your rod, the strikes will be explosive. Carry a good selection of minnow patterns in different colors and change often until you hit a pattern they want, sometimes color change will make a big difference.

[Redneck Scholar]

Yes, you can, but whether it's worthwhile depends on the situation. The colder the water, the less fish will travel to take a fly. That's why some combination of sinking material, either in the line, tip, or fly, is so common. There are occasional situations where steelhead will rise to a skated fly or a near-surface streamer, but from now through Mid-April it's pretty unlikely.

Red'

[FcStory]

So dont swing flies when temps drop?

[Slint]

You can certainly swing as the temps drop. Just swing slower and deeper than you might bother attempting when temps are otherwise higher. In the cold they may not come up to a skater but they will certainly grab a leech near the bottom.

[Long Shank]

Swing low and slow, you never know
Some sun will help, think PM
LS

[Redneck Scholar]

So dont swing flies when temps drop?

This is something many people don't get:

Cold water makes fish not want to move as far, but it doesn't stop them. You need to fish lower in the water column and swing into slower water. If you do that, you can catch fish in 33-34 degree water.

It's not how cold the water is, it's how it's changed in the last few hours. If the water has been 42 degrees and weather has dropped it to 40, don't expect as much activity. But if the water was 38 degrees and it's jumped on a sunny afternoon (hint) up to 40, the fish will be more energized.

[domantas]

for beginning i would recommend rabbit strip leeches in 3-4.5" long, bigger ones when water is cold. I personally tie these on a stinger hook. IMO the colder the bigger fly should be, because fish metabolism slows down and they stay lazy to dont waste any calories, but when deep/slowly presented 4" leech swings by, he'll take it. Thats what happened two days ago