I like Colville, but for me, it’s just out of the way. Even if I fish an Erie trib, his shop is 20-30 minutes away. The ASB tackle shop is 5 minutes from Burt. If I fish at Burt or Keg creek, I’m pretty much right there.
Tying your own jigs is something of an art. Just make sure to use quality hooks, and quality marabou.
I’ll take a pic of the jigs Greg makes at his shop. The hot color at Burt right now is pink. Maybe I can find a pic online.
He gave me one with a gold head:
For your first tie you did a good job.
It will become easier over time and you will begin to have a real feel for how different materials are supposed to be tied into the fly, you can watch tutorials but it takes practice
I have a few suggestions that i had to figure out along the way
don’t use those cheap jig heads you will regret it. They do not hold a point well, they flex when setting the hook so you don’t get good hook sets, and they bend when putting pressure on a fish.
Voodoo jig heads are what you want, colville has 50 or 100 packs for like $30 but last time i was there they were out of certain weights . I also purchased these http://www.fishusa.com/product/Wapsi-Super-Jig-Heads and they are pretty good too. they do not have a collar which is good when tying because you don’t have to deal with a step.
There are different types of marabou do your research on this they all perform a little differently but my preference are “blood quills” since i think they imitate bait fish better
don’t go crazy with pattern variation. I noticed you tied 4 different jigs. I suggest you pick a pattern and tie 10-12 in a batch of the same jig. you will be able to hone in you skills during the tying session.
apply zap-a-gap ( superglue) on the hook before you put down you thread base and add it in between layers as needed it will make for a sturdy fly.
Finally, note that you will not save any money tying your own jigs that was my initial reason and boy was i wrong.
if you have any specifc question please ask. I am no pro at tying but i have tied a few hundred files in the past year and my have some advice.
I just buy the tool kit from Ebay. Gander MT sell the vice and accessories at reasonable price. Then I buy the material separately. It didn’t take me long to o this, but it’s no where near the quality that i want.
Thank you very much for the valuable advice. Save me a lot of leg work :tup:. I thought it will saves me some bucks too. As I buy jigs around $2 a pop. I only tie the patterns that I’ve been catching fish with and those 4 are the ones.
So today I set my alarm for 6:15 and I headed out to “The Rock” at Devil’s Hole. I get there at about 6:45ish and walk down, and wouldn’t you know it, someones already there. So frustrating, oh well. At first I thought maybe it was “Z PHAT Z”, but it wasn’t. So I head past him a hundred feet or so. 20 minutes later he hooks one. 30 minutes later another, 30 minutes later another, lol. I got nothing. At about 10:00 I walk past him to leave and we start talking. He said that there are 3 huge boulders towards the end of that particular drift and the steelhead just stack up there. So I headed to Keg after that and saw about 10 fish again, but none of them wanted to play. Skunked!
AWWW!! Sorry to hear that Joe 
I’m going Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully I can get the “Rock” LOL…I like that nick name! Better luck next time Joe.
People think I am crazy when I tell them I woke up before dawn, then drove an hour, only to stand in freezing water all day just for the chance of hooking into a Steelhead.
Getting skunked every once in a while is what makes great days of steelheading so great.
My name is Joel not Joe lol. No biggie!
The guy at “the Rock” also told me that they take down the barrier for the small parking lot on April 1st. That will save us roughly 1/2 mile of walking uphill, yay!
Hi there Joe! J/K Hi Joel I like walking up and down that hill. Gives me the exercise that i needed, even though I’m on my feet 10 hours a day at work.
New sinker company lol:
Went to ArtPark for an hour or so and got skunked. Said “fuck it”, hopped in the truck and headed to an Erie trib. I tried Silver Creek, since I’ve never fished it before. Had an amazing day. Went 5 for 5 and could have landed 2 more but they were small, so I burned the lure through so they couldn’t hit it. Got this guy, he’s about 31.5-31.75". The tail is past the tape measure a bit.
Saw 1 other guy when I first got there, and as I was leaving I ran into 3 other guys. I’m definitely going to hit this stream again.
Nice fish Joel! Went to the Rock this morning and the water is super high. Fished for about 1hr and headed home. Joel, I need to find other places to fish If you can give me the creek name( don’t have to give me your spots) I would like to go there and explore. It’s getting bored at The Rock after a while. Is that really the new sinker? If it is, then the ladies might find it offensive and complain about it like the track towing package LOL.
I was at Silver Creek. It’s an Erie trib about 50 minutes from Tonawanda. There is also Walnut Creek right there. They connect and then head into Lake Erie.
The big red X is a Rite Aid. I go behind it and park on the small road at the little red X. Then walk back to Silver Creek, follow the red steps. You can go left to fish Walnut Creek. Where they meet is the blue circle. Today I went way to the right and fished about a mile and a half of Silver Creek.
Two suckers and a massive bass today. No steelhead. 
Went to ArtPark with my girl. The current was crazy going back and forth. Got aggravated and left for an Erie trib. We did good. We didn’t see many fish but we both landed nice ones. Hers is 28" mine was 26". I landed an additional one about 18".
I entered the pinata we made into the Steelhead Tournament. It should win. It’s 70.75" long.
Holy Steelheady!! Beautiful fish man! Are these fish caught with casting lure?
Yes! The stream we were at was so shallow it would be hard to float fish. Some of the fish were in 1 foot of water. Others were in pools in 5 feet of water.
I’ve gone out twice in the past 2 days. Haven’t seen many steelhead at all. Saw 1 in Walnut creek and 8 in Silver creek and landed 1. Today I tried Big Sister creek. I saw 5 steelhead and landed 1 little guy. I also saw about 1000 suckers. Not good.
I went to Cattaraugus Creek today. It was flowing right at 500 cfs. I went to zoar valley and there were only 2 other cars parked in the lot. Hiked and fished all afternoon. I managed to get 3.
Is it me or do the Steelhead caught in the spring fight harder then the fall run?
It’s just you lol. For me I find that the warmer the water the stronger the fight. I caught a small 3-4lber in Ellicott Creek last september. The water temp was in the mid 60’s. The fish was a BEAST! I thought I had a monster smallmouth on the way it was pulling. Then it went airborne 5 times.
I was thinking of hitting the Catt but 500 is still too high for my liking. It takes forever for that creek to go down. Now it’s going to pour tonight, so it will be raging for another week. I’ll probably hit some Ontario tribs tomorrow.
For me also, the fall run when the water is warmer fight much more. It appears to me at least, and talking with others, the spring run wasn’t very good this year. Now all the suckers and bass are moving in. I’m ready for carp and catfish. Fishing in shorts and a t-shirt will be a nice change!