Above: A Skeena River steelhead caught on a dead-drifted Black Tube Bomber ™  Picture with courtesy of Mr. Chad Black

Wake fly,  dry fly, and skating flies are fishing forms closely associated with fly fishing for steelhead. Way’s of fishing only truly efficient when conditions and time are right, but anglers will prepare and gear up for the climax of fly fishing with great anticipation. Some steelhead anglers would say: Fishing on the top – is the only true way to catch this great fish.

Surface fishing for Atlantic salmon and sea-trout is a possibility during summer – But when low temperatures starts creeping up on angler in Europa and eastern Canada – salmon and sea-trout turn their attention away from waking and dead drifting flies – But steelhead can go ballistic on wake flies On a cold October mornings

Steelhead angler and Director of Wild Steelhead Funding with Native Fish Society: Mr Tom Derry Fish on the top for steelhead in British Columbia – Tom is using the Monster Tube Caddis steelhead tube fly.

The Monster Tube Caddis steelhead tube fly. – A modern tube wake fly based on the riffling hitch tube fly system – where the leader is inserted on an angle in the tube as opposed to the front of the tube – See more details on the Monster Tube Caddis wake fly in our shop

Dead-drifting dry flies for steelheads

As all Salmonidae, the steelhead-parr have their focus pointed upwards a good part of the season, and fishing dry flies at dead-drift * is one straight forward method to hook up with adult steelhead

Fly patterns like; Clark`s Stonefly – Wulff flies – Humpy and Bombers are favoured dead drift patterns.

* Fishing at dead-drift: This morbid sentence is a term explaining a classic technique where the anglers leave the fly drifting motionless on the river surface – as opposed to waking the fly

1950’s The Steelhead Bee – The first intentional dry fly pattern for steelheads

Mr Roderick Haig-Brown, author of many books on sport and a dedicated fly fisherman is considered to be the true pioneer in the discipline surface fishing for steelhead. Mr Haig-Brown initially discovering some of the key elements in steelhead flies that led to the design of steelhead wake flies and wake fly fishing as we know it today.

Above: A beautiful hen fish caught on a Steelhead Bee A fly devices by Mr Roderick Haig-Brown from Vancouver.

Above: Superior holding pool for steelhead on the Skeena River system – Big boulders and safety in the medium deep water, will have the steelhead resting in these areas. A well presented dead drifting dry fly or a slowly moving wake fly like the Grantham Sedge or Steelhead Beetle could bring the fish to the oily surface.  Picture with courtesy of Chad Black Nicholas Dean Lodge

Wake fly for steelhead

The steelhead is a highly surface active Salmonidae and fishing them on the top is regarded as the highest form of fly fishing. During summer and long into Autumn the steelhead will react aggressively to flies waked or skated across the surface. Steelhead anglers have built flies for this fishing for decades – Flies that will work on the top in both rough and calm water. Wake fly patterns like Waller Walker, Wag`s Walker, Pooldozer, Air B.C, The Ska-Opper – and The Grantham Sedge, to mention but a few.

Pulling flies in the surface is about creating a commotion – In some cases the wake could be the main attraction and the fly could literally be secondary

Regular flies used as a riffling hitch fly

Dragging a regular wet flies in the surface (Portland Hitch) or using tiny tube flies fished on an angle is a long-established technique for Atlantic salmon that also work fine for steelhead. One could call Riffling Hitch fishing: a quiet way of skating or waking a fly – but it would not be all correct as the actual presentation of the fly could be different on a steelhead river versus a salmon river – To see more on the riffling hitch technique see our pages on the subject

Bulky flies that wake

Bulky buoyant material like deer-hair and EVA-foam (Ethylene vinyl acetate) – Is widely used in conventional steelhead wake flies. The shape of the fly and the sheer bulkiness will also work to generate the wake.

Famous versions of the Bomber have been honed into shape to perform well and on the surface – when fished across the river.

Tube wake flies – with a unique design

We have reworked the way of doing steelhead wake flies – By using the riffling hitch system on steelhead patters – You no longer have to work with demanding hitch knots or technical advice on what position the knot has to sit in correlation to the slope of the hook and the flow of the river etc.

Simply insert the leader through the hole in the belly of the tube – tie on a hook of your choice – and you good to go.

You may also want to try our way of designing steelhead wake flies: Tied on a tube with the leader entering at an angle thereby forcing the fly to the surface.

The Waller Walker – A wake fly icon. Designed by steelhead angler Mr Lani Waller. Supposedly the design was forced through by film-maker Mr John Fabio, who was filming Mr Waller. Mr Fabio wanted a fly that would show up on the river surface – so it could be seen properly on film. Mr Walker then made the fly that should become the grandfather of modern wake flies

Photo:  We took the liberty of transforming the wake fly icon to a Fishmadman Tube Waller Walker

Wake version of the Bomber

It is said that the first Bomber pattern was designed by a Mr E. Smith in the 1960s. Mr Smith designed the fly as a commotion fly to fish Atlantic Salmon in the Miramichi River in New Brunswick. The pattern proved very successful on salmon and soon spread to steelhead anglers in the West who changed the overall design to enable it to wake better. Some even shape their Bomber to work with a dive and pop-up motion

Right: The Rusty Brown Bomber conceived by steelhead guide John Hazel in 1979. A favourite Bomber pattern with many steelheaders – Here done the Tube Bomber way.

To make Bombers perform better/differently when used as a wake fly West Coast anglers may also tie their Bombers with sparse or simply no hackle at all

Bomber influenced wake flies like; Moose Turd – Cigar Butt – Purple Bomber – Air B.C are chosen versions for commotion fishing

Photo :  The famous Moose Turd wake fly by Bill McMillan – done the Fishmadman way on our Riffling Hitch Tube – The arrow show`s the entrance hole for the leader. This is a very dependable way of getting a fly pattern to pull to the surface and wake.  Big and long wake fly patterns benefit much from this transition – like the tube fly fitted with a small wide gape hook (like a coarse fishing carp hook) – will weigh less than a conventional fly tied on a long shank hook – furthermore, tube fly patterns do not have issues with leverage that so often is associated with flies tied on bigger single hooks. The fly wake´s effortlessly and work´s very lively on the surface. The tube allows for multiple choice of hooks and hook settings.

Right:  Our version of the classic steelhead fly the Rusty Brown Bomber Tied on our Riffling Hitch tube

 Above: A favourite Bomber colour both for steelhead and Atlantic Salmon: The Aqua Blue Bomber wake fly

The Ska-Opper

Some top water flies for steelhead is made to plow through the surface some are made to create a moderate wake, others like the Ska-Opper or the Quigley’s Dragon Gurgler is designed for a more active life in the surface: bobbing, making a wake and spitting water.

Left: The Ska-Opper: A modern Skate/Popping fly by steelhead guide Mr Scott Howell – Here done on our Riffling Hitch tube. 

Buy the Ska-Opper wake fly tied on a tube 

Photo by Mr, Adam Tavender

Read more about top-water tactics for steelheads

Written by top water pro and camp manager; Chad Black from Nicholas Dean Lodge Situated in the Lower Skeena Region. Terrace, BC, Canada. Chad Black and some of the guides from the lodge has helped us make our wake fly series –

 

Check out the tube wake flies we do 

Read Chad Blacks advice