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Ridleyffo

Hewitt's Skater

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I tied up a Hewitt's Skater that was in the recent Fly Tyer mag and tried it on some of the slower pools I usually dont fish much on my Ridley creek.

 

Anyway, I was amazed at that amount of interest that the fly generated. I got real big movements, flashes and exploding refusals. I did catch two browns on it yesterday but I foul hooked both of them . the one was a near good hook being just outside the mouth on the plate, but the other I got in the pectoral fin. :wallbash: Glad I fish barbless. This albino that is hogging my favorite "sycamore" hole and whom I have been unable to catch for three outings was making such big movements towards it and then turning in refusal that it seemed he was trying to swat it with his tail.

 

It certainly seems like a fly that you have to learn to fish and that it will give up alot of secrets once you learn to fish it better. Certainly seems like a good prospecting fly.

 

I used softex instead of head cement to do the spikey thing on the hackle and although I only used a little when I tried to reform the fly when wet, it gunked up the whole fly. I guess softex shouldnt be stroked when wet?? I tied another with head cement last night but didnt fish it today. I also think the softex made it less buoyant than it should have been.

 

I was wondering if anyone ties these in real small sizes to imitate midges? Im not sure if I got the proportions right either as I found the instructions a little vague. I was tying a #14 Mustad 94840? with spade hackle to about the diameter of a quarter or a bit smaller.

 

Any pointers or advice on this interesting fly would be appreciated.

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A Neversink Skater should be 2" across, a smaller verison a little bigger then a quarter Hewitt called a Spider.

Here is a picture the hackle on th Skater is a little sorter then I would like but it is the longest I could find at the time. The second fly is a Spider tied to the length Hewitt described.

This season I have had a lot of orders for these flies, way too many dozen. The hackle for the Skaters is very hard to find and when it is found take a lot of time to sort out sizes, etc.

I have not seen the article yet, what issue was it in?

skater2.jpg

 

Joe Fox

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Hi Joe,

Thanks for the picture. Does the fly have any sort of body or just the over sized hackle? Also, what kind of hackle do you use. Looks like the large ones could be a difficult to cast.

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Hi Joe,

Thanks for the picture. Does the fly have any sort of body or just the over sized hackle? Also, what kind of hackle do you use. Looks like the large ones could be a difficult to cast.

The Skaters are just hackle. Some of the Spiders had tails or very small bodies but Hewitt describes liking them with just hackle.

They are a real pain to cast! The large ones need 3x on a short leader and even then they are a chore. They are not dead drifted but skater around on the surface. The fly is in a constant state of movement and once it starts to sink you switch to another. If I do dress them with floatant I pre-treat the and I do not use things like Gink because it is so easy to mat down the hackle and if that happens they are almost useless.

 

Joe Fox

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I'll try to get some pics tomorrow. I have a few more flies to tie tonight for tomorrow am. I promised my buddy some chromonids.

 

Thanks for the detail on sizing. What size hook is the Hewitt sized one (quarter sized) tied on. Looks like the #14s I tied. Part of my buoyancy problem may have been that the saddles I was using may have had a bit of webbing in them. The article was in the new winter magazine with the superhero nymphs on the cover. It certainly stated to use spade hackles beyond any webbing. I was thinking that you might be able to make smaller sized ones with normal dry hackles that are oversized for the hook? Again I dont know and think that there may be a big learning curve with this fly. I will be willing to put in the time with this fly though as it really seems to piss off the trout.

 

I didnt have too much trouble casting it especially since I started skating it as soon as it landed. No worry for drag free drifting with this bug. Given my saltwater background I also probably double haul more than most trout guys. thinking about casting it on Friday I was doing a bit of "one handed spey and shoot casting" I dont know it this is even a true technique but it seems to work well with clumsy or bulky flies.

 

What I do is almost start to roll cast with the rod more horizontal than perpendicular to the water. when the water releases the fly, I accelerate the backcast while effecting a bit of a "spey" cast by turning over the cast while doing a haul to shoot the line. Seems to work well but I probably should really take a casting lesson sometime :rolleyes:

 

What make this fly is that the two back hackles are wrapped backwards, actually facing forward and the two front hackles are tied normal facing backwards. It said to squeeze the hackles all toward the center using only your fingers. the end result is almost like hands folded in prayer. then apply some head cement like you were spiking your kids hair.

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Try using spray waterproofer after you tie the skater let it dry 24 hrs before using it. I do this with my drys and they last a long time . If they get wet I use a dessicant.

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Hi Riddleyffo, Futzer tip, take the hackles and dip them in softex, I thin mine slightly. Make sure to let the excess drip off, so the hackle is lightly coated. And use webby hackle not good quality dry fly. Then lay them on a 1/2 diameter rod. I use our paper towel hold, when Mrs Futz is not looking. let them dry over night. The curvature will be set into them. Tie in with hackle points forward to the eye so it looks like a tiny satelite dish. Rib the hook rear of the hook with a couple wraps of copper wire so the butt end sinks slightly. Oh and the browns will slash at them, so on the downward swing and lift, don't set the hook, just raise the rod tip for a little more tension. They will hook themselves.

 

Cheers, Jeff aka Futzer.

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I have always been interested in this fly but have never tied or fished it. It seems that Coq de Leon hackle would be a good choice. Yes...No?

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Old Hat, I thought the Coq de Leon would be best too as according to the article it said the spade hackles were best. Mr. Futzer has never led me astray and has hooked me up with some incredible flies, so I will certain try using the webbier hackeles. Ive been actually using some bugger saddles all the way at the tip. I tied one up last night using a large hackle from a metz cape. ???

 

the first one I tied I used black bugger saddles and softex. I may have tied the hackles in wrong (didnt check the recipe)so my buoyancy was probably affected. I only used softex on my fingertips and used very little, but like I said it gunked up on me. thinning it ??? sure another step for me. thanks jeff.

 

Anyway, I fished another yesterday made from a spade hackle. tied it correctly and used head cement. This thing skating like a charm. too bad we had our first snow on saturday and the air temp dropped almost 20 degrees from Fri afternoon to sunday morning. Soooooo my spider went untouched. Not having any success with that I was able to get three nice bows on my skunked dace pattern. (just a hairwing streamer with white/black/white skunk fur) looks good wet as the skunk really appears sparse.

 

I got this great big box of stuff from a retiring western fly photographer and fisher from the yellowstone area and I am slowing figuring out what half of this fur actually is. I found out that my half skunk skin actually has very short hair with a ton of underfur. Any suggestions would be appreciated for this too!

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If tied and fished correctly, does it skate standing up on it's hackle tips or is it more like sliding around leaning forwards? I only tried to tie and fish one once, but the result was more like a drunk trying to stay upright than a ballerina on her tippy toes.

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Hi All;

 

I've read the article in the Winter 2009 Fly Tyer Magazing and I'm still a little confused.

 

Why are the hackle tips coated with softex to "Spike' them?

 

The article says to use hackle without any webbing but, Futzer suggests using webby hackle. What would the difference be in how the fly ties and fishes?

 

Thanks in advance;

 

Wayne

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24/7 that is the ticket and the right profile to get the true idea. the article actually says to use head cement and the purpose I believe is to make the thing bouyant. with the big hackle it would like hold more water and sink quicker without some type of treatement.

 

As far as how they float, my attempts and R&D( love that)(my wife calls it hiding from her and her honey do list) it floats just like the above pic. Mine seemed to float only slightly in the film and it certainly skated pretty well. I think that these are not intended for heavy water however. I would wait for a nice warm afternoon to try it out too as our 20 degree drop over Friday night shut the trout off to this pattern on saturday and sunday.

 

 

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