Josh's Green Ant

If you look back over the blog posts from the past few weeks you will see the Green Ant mentioned multiple times. 

Summer steelheading is a very personal and emotional sport. Everyone has a favorite fly, river, and run. When I started steelhead fishing a long time ago the internet was in its infancy and you didn’t have access to all of the information we do now. In those days, steelhead lore was passed on by very few books, word of mouth, and mentors. One of my early mentors Steve Kruse (who is pictured a number of times in Dec Hogan’s book) used to always say you only need three flies; The Bloody Muddler, Walt Johnson’s Deep Purple Spey, and The Green Ant. In Trey Combs book Steelhead Fly Fishing, which is widely regarded as the Steelheaders bible, on page 157 in the section on the Clearwater River, Trey talks about The Green Ant and gives the recipe. I took that recipe and modified it to be my own. I have been fishing that fly for almost 20 years and you will always find a bunch of them in multiple sizes in my summer steelheading gear. This fly has accounted for more fish than I can remember. And you can rest assured that when I’m rigging up my rod for the Deschutes this will be the first fly I choose. As a matter of fact, I have so much confidence in this fly that I had them custom tied just for the shop.

Recipe:

Hook: Silver Alec Jackson Steelhead Iron Size 5 or 7

Thread: Black Uni 6/0

Tag: Small Silver Tinsel

Butt: Black Ostrich Herl

Tail: Natural Pheasant Tippet

Body: Olive Uni Floss

Rib: Small Silver Tinsel

Collar: Black Saddle Hackle

Wing: Natural Grey Squirrel Tail

Green Ant Flies	Green Ant Fly Tying Kit