Tie a Leggy Fox Steelhead Jig Pattern

Center Pin Jigs

This pattern came from other tiers who tie for the same spots I fish for steelhead in.  Their patterns use a marabou tail which is what you should use if you can not find a Dark or Medium Dark brown shade of some soft fur about 1.25 inches or longer.

  • Hook      Black #6 1/32 ounce jig or any small balanced jig head
  • Head      Black powder coated jig head or Black Bead 5.0 or 5.5mm
  • Thread   Fire Orange 140D or 6/0 Uni,  Leave a short thread butt & tail 
  • Tail      Dark to Medium Brown soft Fur,  tie this in mid shank ahead of the butt
  • Body Butt   Dub a 2 turn bump to prop up the rear rubber legs
  • Legs   Dark Brown Silicone legs tied against body Butt and looped forward near head
  • Body    Dark Brown Dubbing to fill in body and one turn ahead of forward looped legs
  • Collar    Fire Orange Thread, enough turns to show a band behind the head

To prep the Beaver Fur:  The beaver fur had too much underfur, I pinched it to comb out some of the shorter underfur.  The guard hares were too long, I finger stacked one pinch of the longest tips and put them back in under the tail.

One uncut strand of Silicon Rubber Leg makes all 4 legs.  The 4 legs are tied in position one at a time:  

  • Back near side is tied against dubbing bump
  • Near side front leg is tied in spaced a bit back from the head
  • Far front leg is tied in back a bit form the head, leave these in a loop, They stay out of trouble better!
  • Back far side leg is tied against back dubbing bump

The legs should project out from the sides of the body, slightly up here, below (away from) the hook side of the hook point up jig.  I like a spiky, buggy dubbing blend with some flash mixed in, such as Peacock Ice Dub broken into shorter fibers. I have caught Steelhead, many Brown Trout and a Coho on this.   Fish this near the bottom, below a float or indicator or tie it on a down eye hook with a bead head as a crayfish-creature pattern for Smallmouth Bass or stream Trout.  Shrimp colors on a Saltwater hook?

People also tie Olive or Black versions of this pattern.  Where I fish steelhead, Olive sometimes works with a black head or a pink head for Coho.  Black works best very small, stone fly size.  I use a 1/64 ounce #8 Black jig head.  Dyed Black Rabbit or short fluffy Marabou will work for that.


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