Steelhead are native to the West Coast of North America. They are also native to the Kamchatka Peninsula region of Russia. Steelhead live in the sea and spawn in freshwater rivers. This is referred to as being anadromous.

Over the years, certain fly patterns have been adopted for the west coast that differ from those preferred by Great Lakes anglers. The fish are actually the same species. The flies used for the West will also work for steelhead in the eastern waters. Thousands of fly patterns have been developed. All of them will work at one time or another and in certain rivers. We have limited our selections to the most popular and most effective flies to help eliminate some of the confusion.