Chasing steelhead on the Situk is prime the last week of April thru the first tree weeks of May. Go to patterns include Dolly Llama #2 in black/white, pink/purple, pink/white, pink/black, pink/steelhead blue and black/red. Other really really good patterns include Steelhead Glo Bugs #2 (Garcia, pink/chartreuse, purple/chartreuse and orange,) Fish Emission Eggs #6 (salmon egg, trans pink, OR cheese and flame #4,) Liquid Wrench (red/orange, fuchsia/pink,) and 907 Leech or LE Egg Sucking Leech. If these patterns are not found on our site or are temporarily out of stock, please check with us. Often we will be getting fresh stock through out the late winter and early spring.
Beads are evermore gaining popularity among steelheaders and can be deadly on the Situk. The best sizes and colors are often dictated by weather and water conditions. General rule is to fish big in high and off colored water and go smaller when the conditions clear and drop. Go to colors are pinks, reds and oranges, but don't count out blues and chartreuses. When steelhead see lots stuff on the warm side of the color scale, going to the opposite side can be deadly. I often find myself fishing more solid/opaque beads during dark and cloudy days and more translucent/transparent on brighter days. There are some really good beads that have a lighter degree of opacity/translucency (cloudy) that can be dynamite too. Check out our Guide Model Steelhead Beads. Here you will find lots of the beads/colors that we like to fish. Most of these beads are offered only in one or two of the larger sizes (110mm, 12mm, 14mm.) Guide Model Trout Beads which are offered in 6mm and 8mm can be good for when the water gets lower (Dark Roe, Tangerine, Ruby are good!). Lastly Mottled Beads and Glow Beads have some really good colors that come in size 6-14mm. Most of the beads in our Steelhead Bead Selection come from these last two categories.
Best of luck out fishing!