Fly Fishing Forum banner

Steelhead Fly of the week – Purple Sundowner

3K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  FleshFly 
#1 ·
This is actually the most popular color combination of a series of flies. They are also tied in pink, red, orange and black. The Originator of the series, Bob Wagoner from Lewiston Idaho, tied the flies in the mid 1980’s. They are used primarily on the Clearwater and Grande Ronde Rivers. It is also unique in that it has a synthetic wing. One of the first of a new generation of steelhead flies.


Hook: Up eye salmon hook.
Tail: Purple hackle barbs.
Body: Rear 1/3: flat silver tinsel, Front 2/3: fluorescent orange yarn.
Hackle: Purple palmered over the orange yarn.
Wing: Pearl crystal flash.
Collar: Purple hackle
Head: Black
 

Attachments

See less See more
1
#3 ·
Charlie,

Wagoner's Sundowner series of flies also includes the JIMMY GREEN SPECIAL, a more or less all green/chartreuse version. It is a shame they are not in more general use. And the tying a steelhead fishing world suffered a real loss when Wagoner died a few years ago from compications due to diabetes.

I've rarely seen any of the Sundowners in use; but they are very effective on bright, sunny days in the fall, especially the orange (my favorite of the series) and purple versions. I've also found the Sundowners can be used to induce steelhead to strike if tied on standard, heavy wire salmon hooks, fished on a floating line, allowed to sink a bit, and then stripped in with 4"-6" pulls of line. I've had some rather vicious takes from summer steelhead when fishing for searun cutthroats in the fall with the ORANGE SUNDOWNER as it was stripped past a log jam.

I strongly suspect a large part of its effectiveness is due to the flash and twinkle of the Krystal Flash wings.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top