Purple Hot Head Leech
The big brown that I took on my last outing to the Sheboygan gobbled a Purple Hot Head Leech. This has been a great fly for me for kings, cohos, browns, and steelhead. It’s a Collared Leech (see 10/28/09 post on tying the Collared Leech) tied with dark purple FoxxFurr and a fiery, 505 Orange FoxxFurr collar. Typically I use a bright red or flourescent orange thread, too.
Now, to get specific: Hook—whatever you like in size, length, strength. The one in the photo is a Targus 7999, black nickel finish. I like its strength, especially for the kings. I tie it with a weighted or unweighted body, with eyes, with a bead, with a cone, or not. The one shown is the unweighted version, allowing me to add shot as necessary to reach fish in a wide variety of water depths.
For example, the big brown shown in the last post was in a deep pocket just before a swift breaking riffle. I used one 3/0 shot several inches ahead of the fly to get it right down next to the bottom in that fast water. In addition, I used a Curve Cast to toss the fly in so it landed downstream of the line and leader. This allowed the fly to dive into the deep pocket right in front of the fish. The fish took the fly on the second swing.
The Purple Hot Head Leech