Umpqua Smolt

Created by Jeff Morgan

HOOK: Dai Riki 700, size 4-8 THREAD: White BODY: Pearl crystal chenille UNDERWING: White Polar Aire WING: Silver Flashabou over pearl Mini-Flash OVERWING: Gray Polar Aire SIDES: Grizzly saddle hackles GILLS: Red Flashabou EYES: 3-D molded eyes HEAD: Soft-Tex or epoxy

Uses

Imitates a salmon or steelhead smolt. Smolts travel downriver in their migration to saltwater. Along the way, they are often eaten by smallmouth bass and other predators.

 
This pattern also imitates chub, shiners, whitefish, and baby trout. It is useful in trout waters in late summer and early fall.

 
See the article Baitfish for Smallmouth . . . and Trout

How to Fish

Use a count-down-and-retrieve presentation with a slow-sinking tip line. Vary the speed of the retrieve. Good places to present the fly are current seam and near structure, such as boulders.

Tying Instructions

1. Debarb hook, place in vice, start thread

 
2. Tie in crystal chenille

 
3. Wrap body

 
4. Tie in white Polar-Aire underwing

 
5. Tie in pearl Mini-Flash

 
6. Tie in a clump of gray Polar-Aire

 
7. Tie in grizzly hackles along sides of fly

 
8. Tie in red Flashabou gills

 
9. Build head, whipfinish, and trim.

 
10. Apply Soft-tex to the head. Allow Soft-tex to get tacky. Apply eyes,

 
11. Final coat of Soft-tex.

 
12. Paint black spot on hackle sides of fly (optional).