Pacific Northwest Streamer Conversions
A small series of flies from Roy Patrick's pattern book converted into streamers
"Pacific Northwest Fly Patterns" was a charming fly pattern book self published by the late Roy Patrick, original owner of Patrick's Fly Shop in Seattle, Washington state.
Patrick opened the shop in 1946 and it is still in business.
The book was a comb bounded
paperback, and the original manuscript is hand typed and is accompanied by somewhat crude ballpoint pen drawings of a number of the patterns.
There were a number of editions, the first one from the 1950's and continuing into the early 1970's. The first edition from 1953 contained a mere 50 pages. The 1970 enlarged edition, which I own, has 142 pages, so it's obvious that Patrick updated it over the years. The 1970 edition is divided into five chapters: Nymphs, Regular Flies, Steelhead Flies, Argentine Flies and British Columbia.
As crude as the book seems by today's standard of professionally printed fly fishing books, in its day it was considered a mainstay for fly fishers in the greater Northwest and beyond, and that lasted well into the late 70's.
I acquired my first copy
in the mid 70's. It was great, as it listed so many patterns, many that I heard of, but a great deal more I never knew about. I tied up a number of the patterns and found that they produced well for me in my fishing of the day. The trout I targeted in the Sierra Nevada liked many of the patterns, and nearer my home in Los Angeles I found that the bass and bluegill in Malibu State Park (where the TV series “MASH” was filmed) loved many of the patterns as well. It was a handy book to have then – and it still is today.
I'm following a tradition
first started on Raske's Streamer page prior to its merger with the Global FlyFisher. There Raske wrote an article about converting traditional and popular Atlantic salmon patterns into streamer form. This “converting” theme continued after joining GFF with an article about converting Ray Bergman wet flies into streamers. I thought it would be fun to convert a number of the patterns featured in the “Regular Flies” chapter of the above mentioned book into streamers.
The patterns I chose
are all called Wetflies in the book, The patterns I selected are mostly hairwings, a couple have Saddle Hackle or Marabou wings. I choose not to tie any pattern where the original called for a quill wing, and I switched it to a hair wing or saddle hackle wing. I did take the liberty of switching to Bucktail or Squirrel tail if the pattern called for calf tail or polar bear. I did do simple changes in materials to keep a slimmer profile on some of the patterns.
The hook listed is the streamer conversion choice, thread choice is my personal preference. Other than those changes, I stayed as true to the original dressings as possible.
In no particular order
here's the 10 patterns I converted to streamers:
Ebb Fly
The pattern is listed as good for Rainbows and Cutthroats.
Black Wag
Designed by Leon Wagner of the Washington State Flyfishers, for Lenice lake in eastern Washington. A leech type pattern (but works well even with no leeches around). Said to be good for rainbows (and I can add browns and bass).
Pass Lake
Designed for Pass lake, Washington State. Pass Lake was the first fly-fishing only lake in the state. An interesting note: the dressing lists the hackle prior to tying in the wing, yet the crude drawing shows the hackle looking like a collar tied in after the wing. I have always tied my Pass Lakes with the collar version. The photo shows the collared version.
American Lake
Perfected at American Lake in Washington state, though it works elsewhere. Basically a Royal Coachman streamer with a Yellow hackle collar.
Peacock Streamer
A neutral pattern that works well. Good for rainbows and cutthroat. Browns like it as well.
Black Demon
Said to work great for large trout in lakes or rivers.
Dorris Special
Apparently first used on Oregon’s Deschutes River, but effective in other rivers and streams. Resembles the Picket Pin patterns a good deal.
Little John
A very simple pattern, but very effective. I’ve caught browns, rainbows, brooks, bass and quality bluegill on this pattern. I will often omit the jungle cock and paint eyes (yellow iris/black pupil) on the thread head. Either method is good.
Yellow Hammer
Originated by Everett & Mary Bundt of Arlington, WA. Designed for Stilliguamish River sea run cutthroat.
Thunder Mountain
Recommended for fast streams. Effective on rainbows and cutthroats.
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Comments
Streamer Conversions
I've done this for years and it's a lot of fun to convert flies from one usage to another. One of my favorite sources of inspiration was the book "Fly Patterns of Alaska" , a compilation of the Alaska Fly Fishers from Amato Publications. Many of those salmon ad saltwater patterns can be tweaked into wonderful, down-sized largemouth bass streamer patterns for Pennsylvania lakes.