Marabou flies have been catching steelhead and salmon for decades. I recall first seeing George Cook's Alaskabou flies as a teenager. They were just a few colors of wrapped marabou and some flash, but wiggled like crazy in the water. Not long after came the more dressed up patterns of John Farrar and Bob Aid. There are now countless steelhead patterns that incorporate wound marabou as a primary material and Charles St. Pierre's Hoh Bo Spey is perhaps one of the most fished steelhead patterns of the modern era. Marabou is simply hard to beat when it comes to providing an incredible amount of movement in your flies. It also comes in a wide variety of attractive colors and it is generally very affordable, especially when compared to other highly mobile materials like ostrich and rhea.
Just about anyone who enjoys tying flies can probably rattle off a short list of influences, fellow tyers whose patterns serve as inspiration for your own projects, giving way to countless variations down the road. I've long admired the flies of well-known UK tyer Stuart Foxall. Many of his patterns are straight forward and functional, but at the same time elegant and classy. When it comes to the steelhead flies I fish, I want them to be reasonably quick to tie but also swim well and look as appealing to me as I hope they will be to the fish. Certainly flies are tied to catch anglers as well as fish and while steelhead are known to grab just about anything under the right circumstances, I rely on fishing patterns that have earned confidence and trust that they will behave in the river exactly as they've been designed to. I tend to lose my mind when a pattern tied to fish a certain way ends up swimming upside down or on its side. For this reason I've always been drawn to flies tied in the round. Stu's Metal Head Tube will essentially look the same from just about any vantage point.
I tie these in lots of different color combos. The red variation featured is really productive in clear water. I also really like black/blue, pink/purple, pink/orange and black/red under different water and light conditions. I try and swing the fly broadside in the current when possible to give fish a full look at the profile. The Aqua Disc that finishes the fly pushes some water and creates a vortex behind it that keeps the marabou, flash and lady amherst forever undulating in the current. I use either a size 2 Aqua Talon or OPST Swing Hook with this pattern and generally attach the hook with a short loop knot that is jammed in the Ultra Tubing. Allowing the hook to trail slightly behind the fly helps prevent the marabou from fouling. Just be sure to keep your loops short enough that the hook doesn't extend much beyond your junction tubing. This helps to prevent the hook from swinging up and getting caught in the body of the fly. Most importantly, you'll be less likely to hook a steelhead deep where you risk harming the fish. You can also simply push the hook eye into the junction tubing and forego using a loop. One of the best things about fishing tubes is that it's so easy to alter the way you rig them or the size of the hook you're fishing to best suit your needs.
Stu's Metal Head Tube Variation Recipe:
Outer Tube: 1/2" 3mm Fl. Red Aqua Flies Tube
Liner Tube: 1.8mm Clear Aqua Flies Tube
Junction Tube: Clear Ultra Tubing
Thread: White Semperfli 50 Denier Nano Silk
Butt: Flame Senyo's Fusion Dub
Body: UV Copper Polar Chenille
Support: Red Arctic Fox
Accents: Hot Orange Lady Amherst
Flash: Red Holographic Flashabou and Gold Polar Flash
Hackle: Hot Red Spey Quill Marabou
Head: Fl. Flame Aqua Disc