The Wahlflower

Salmon/ Steelhead Fly

Tied By Darrell Olson

Hook: Ahrex HR412 Low Water Single, Size 6 (Hook Range Size 2 – 8)

Thread: Under Body – White 8/0, Head: Black 3/0

Materials-

tag: Small Mylar Tinsel – Silver

butt: Uni-Floss – Orange

tail: Golden Pheasant Crest

rib: Large Oval French Tinsel – Silver

body: Veevus Floss – Chartreuse

throat: Orange Hackle Fibers

wing: Squirrel Tail Dyed Yellow

Notes:

The Wahlflower is a well-known steelhead fly pattern that was created by Ralph Wahl of Bellingham, Washington in 1965. It is a popular choice among fly fishers and is known to be effective in catching steelhead.

Ralph Wahl, may have been the first man to cast a fly for Skagit River winter-run steelhead. “There may have been others, but they weren’t where I was fishing,” Ralph says.  Ralph was fishing for summer-run steelhead on the North Fork Stillaguamish whenever he could find time to break away from working at the family store (Wahl’s Department Store) in Bellingham. Ralph had been an obsessed fisherman all of his life. When the run of Deer Creek natives would begin to stack up in clear N.F. Stillaguamish pools below the town of Oso, so would Ralph and a host of other dedicated steelhead anglers. Many of them would become life-long friends and, unbeknownst to them at the time, steelhead fishing legends.

https://youtu.be/O_7cRBH4_iI