While looking at steelhead flies with a BC guide, one fly in particular stood out: a somewhat ugly contraption with a deer hair wing and not least an "overhanging" head, in other words tied so that the hook eye was under the fly and not in front.
A few years ago I was fishing the Skeena up near Terrace in British Columbia, and while moving from one fishing spot to another we passed a raft and three or four anglers on the bank accompanied by a tall, bearded guide. Our own guide recognized him, turned the boat and banked it next to the raft.
We stepped out
and said hello to Dustin Kovacvich, lodge manager and guide from the Nicholas Dean Lodge on the Skeena, who like most guides up here proved to be a really nice and forthcoming fellow, easy to talk to and very helpful.
We chatted about the fabled steelhead fishing in the area, and Dustin talked about the different rivers such as the Copper River and some "remote coastal streams" usually accessed by helicopter.
Dustin also dug
into his fly boxes and passed different steelhead flies around. Most of them were the usual bunch of colorful marabou on large hooks, but one in particular stood out: a somewhat ugly contraption with a deer hair wing and not least an "overhanging" head, in other words tied so that the hook eye was under the fly and not in front. Dustin told me that one material in the fly was weed trimmer cord, which just made the fly more interesting in my eyes.
one in particular stood out: a somewhat ugly contraption with a deer hair wing and not least an "overhanging" head
I took pictures
of the fly, but forgot its name and put it aside until a few days ago, where I stumbled over the pictures from those beautiful days on the Skeena.
Now, many years later
I tried contacting Dustin and the Nicholas Dean Lodge, but while Dustin himself was busy guiding, this being September and high season, I got a reply from Chad Black, the operations manager of the lodge, who told the story about the fly, which is a Steelhead Beetle.
Chad wrote me:
"This fly was originally developed by Rob Brown as a combination of many successful Steelhead Skating Patterns.
It is more buoyant than the Grantham Sedge and is used in more broken and turbulent water. In smaller sizes it also can be fished as a dead drift dry fly with good results."
Rob Brown is
an author who has written about the Skeena and steelhead fishing in books, magazines and online.
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Facts
The Nicolas Dean Lodge is located in Terrace BC, and their homepage can be found here.
We have covered the Grantham Sedge here.
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