A Day With Mr. Hewett's Skater

Ed Hewett's Neversink Skater...here are a couple of them tied as close to the originals. They are tied on number 14 and 16 hooks with some very large hackle. Now that they're tied I was obligated to see just how they would fish. In the back of my mind the thought was they were going to flip up and not look very appealing to the trout, but to my surprise they landed just fine for most of the time. Yesterday was a cloudy day and that was a blessing as it helped me move a little easier without getting spotted, at least that's what I thought....man are brook trout cautious.

As I finally busted through the wall of briars and reached the stream. There were parts of darkness and parts of light. I tossed the thermometer into the stream the reading was a cold 56 degrees.

This stream is one of long pools some of which are deep, and then sections of riffles. There are undercuts all over, some caused by the stream banks, and some of thick brushed bank side foliage. It was in these pools that I first floated the Skater. The cast was made and the big fly could be seen just barely moving in the slow current. The fly made its drift with out a strike. Several more casts and the same result. I then let the fly drift to a likely holding spot and let the fly just sit. About 10 seconds later I just twitched the fly and an underwater explosion took place.

I could see the brook trout racing from side to side frantically trying to toss the Skater. I was to win out this time and as I slid my hand under his side I was able to lift him and capture his beauty.

I could see trout holding in center stream but when they felt my threat they took to the thick stuff along the banks, and that's where I tried to place the skater.

Most times that action worked.

The Skater required lots of time to dry, especially after a few fished were hooked, I had several so that was not a problem....the problem is getting a fly box big enough to hold the large flies.

A very interesting run, a little bend, lots of cover and quite deep. Looks like a place that may hold a fish. This time it did not take several casts to locate the resident. As soon as the fly hit the water it was beaten down in splash of of water. I could feel the heft of the trout and glancing at the rod I knew he was a good one. That fish moved all over that stream and jungle, staying to the bottom for the most part. When I gained the upper hand and managed to bring him alongside of my leg I realized I had a real small stream beauty.

The beautiful male just starting to show his fall colors was a highlight of my day...the other was Hewett's Neversink Skater.

From The Neversink.........

Neversink River, NY

The sport of fly fishing is so rich in history that a mans time on earth won't allow him to even scratch the surface. I'm a person who loves history and I started digging a few weeks back into the history of the Neversink Skater. The skater was created by Edward Hewett in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The fly was tied to imitate butterflies which the brook trout would jump for. Some of the fish would clear the water for such a meal. The skater was tied on a 16 hook with oversize hackle. When I look at one it appeared to be a dandelion puff. I paid a visit to the Catskills to get some first hand information on Hewett's Skaters. I found someone who enlightened me and now I have a place to start. Well Hewett's skater led me to the limestone stream Letort in Pennsylvania. There was a fly tyer and angler by the name of Ed Shenk who also tied a variant of Hewett's skater, I believe he called it a spider. Shenk's spiders are responsible for taking some big browns, including an impressive one in Argentina. So armed with that knowledge and the Neversink history I tied up some of my own.

This is a Neversink Skater as tied by Harry Darbee according to Hewett's recipe.

Here are three of my "Skaters" the problem I had is the hackle is sized for number 12 flies.

I have since acquired some much larger hackle. This fly is tied with that hackle. A note, Ed Shenk suggested putting a tiny bit head cement on the hackle to make it stiff and skate across a pool much better.

The day I tried my skaters on a small stream the flies worked well with out the added cement. One particular brook trout shot clear out of the water and grabbed the fly on the way down, that's the honest truth.

Here are a few brook trout that found the skaters to be irresistible.

I'm going to continue to fish this fly but will also add various color hackle.