Phil's Fly Box:
The Silly Creek Saviour

with Philip Rowley
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Step 1 : Cover the hook shank with roughly 13 wraps of .010 lead wire substitute. Attach the tying thread and lock the lead wire substitute in place both fore and aft.

Prior to the emergence of salmon fry Cutthroat trout must hunt down other sources of food. On many of the rivers and streams dotting the eastern Fraser Valley stonefly nymphs are a valuable source of nourishment. Requiring turbulent water to survive, stonefly nymphs crawl and forage amongst the rocks and rubble along the bottom. Feeble swimmers, the nymph's active habits often get them swept adrift, either landing further downstream or into the gullet of a feeding Cutthroat.

Step 2 : Select two black goose or turkey biots and secure in place at the rear of the hook. Make sure the biots natural curvature runs away from each other to form a distinct forked tail. The finished tail should be about half the shank in length. Once the tail is finished tie in the fine copper wire ribbing.

The Silly Creek Saviour is the creation of Ryan Pohl a sales representative based in Chilliwack. Some of Ryan's product lines include; Lamiglas Rods, Aqua Design Clothing and Guideline fly lines. New players on market, Guideline fly lines offer no memory and are a beautiful line to cast, give one a try.

Ryan began experimenting with his own stonefly designs some eight or nine years ago. His quest focused around finding the right dubbing mix for the body. After much trial and error Ryan's search brought him back to a Canadian basic, black seal's fur. The natural translucence of seal's fur is tough to beat on any pattern including stonefly nymphs. For the wingcase pink pearl Krystal Flash surpassed all other competitors, including traditional mottled turkey and other wing quill choices. The Krystal Flash sparkle was just the pizzazz this design needed. The finished result was a suggestive pattern reminiscent of the traditional Idaho Nymph. In size 6 the Silly Creek Savior has become a lethal cutthroat pattern tied in larger sizes up to #2 it has become a favorite pattern of Ryan's for both summer and winter run steelhead.

Ryan's primary method of presentation is a floating line and leader up to 15 feet in length. The goal is to bounce the pattern on or near the bottom to simulate the tumbling of a dislodged nymph. For the unoffended, strike indicators are a great method to control and place the fly consistently throughout the drift. This fly works in the slow margins too, even though these waters are not considered prime stonefly habitat.

The Silly Creek Saviour

• Hook: Tiemco 2302 or Tiemco 700 #8-#2 Steelhead) Weighted
• Thread: Black 6/0
• Tail: Black Goose or Turkey Biots
• Rib: Fine Copper Wire
• Body: Black Seal's Fur
• Wingcase: Pink Pearl Krystal Flash
• Thorax: Peacock Herl
• Hackle: Black Saddle Hackle

Step 3 : Form a dubbing loop and insert black seal's fur dubbing. Place the dubbing into the loop at the bottom and slide it up into position, continue until the dubbing loop is loaded. Spin the dubbing loop tight until the fibers radiate out perpendicular to the loop. Wind the body forwards to the 2/3rds point on the shank. Tie off and trim the excess dubbing noodle.	Step 4 : Counter wind the fine copper wire rib forward over the body. Tie off and break of the excess wire by placing the thumbnail on the tie off junction and using a pulling and twisting motion with the opposite hand.
Step 5 : Tie in about 12 strands of pink pearl Krystal Flash for the wingcase followed by 3 strands of peacock herl. Tie in the peacock herl in by the tips to ensure a full thorax, to help build up the thorax dub a foundation of black seals fur dubbing.	Step 6 : Wind the peacock herl forward over the thorax foundation and tie off.
Step 7 : Tie in a black saddle hackle. Wind the saddle around the hook 2 to 3 times. Sweep the black saddle down and back to form a semi circular hackle. Pull the Krystal Flash over the thorax and tie off.	Step 8 : Build up a neat head, whip finish and apply head cement. To identify this weighted pattern amongst the other residents in the fly box try a dab of red nail polish on the hook eye. Be careful not to clog the hook eye.