Story Behind the Dark Max Canyon Steelhead Fly and How to Tie It.

Dark Max Canyon Steelhead Fly

The Dark Max Canyon fly had its origin on the Deschutes River because of a chance meeting with an angler who wasn’t catching any Steelhead. I was fishing the west side of the river and having good success. In less than two hours I had landed and released five Steelhead. During that time the angler on the east side wasn’t having any luck, but I could tell that he was a good fly caster and was covering the water very well. When the sun finally danced across the water, I called it quits and rowed back to the other side. 

Interestingly, the lone angler who had been fishing on the other side was waiting for me. His name was Larry Piatt, and after cordial introductions he asked me one, simple question, “What the heck are you doing to hook those fish? I’ve been fishing this river for over a month and haven’t had a strike.” I looked at his outfit, his leader and fly and said, “Larry, you’ve got the right gear and I watched you fishing over there and your technique is fine. Just keep on doing what you’re been doing!” 

For the balance of the summer we began to fish together. He finally started to catch some fish but it wasn't because of what I said. It was because of what I forgot to say which was that sometimes in Steelhead fishing you just have to get lucky. However, my original and seemingly harmless comment haunted him. When we would be talking with other anglers he would say, ”Here I was, watching this guy hook and release five Steelhead in a row, and when I asked for some solid advice, all he said was, “Keep on doing what you're doing.” I figured that meant, keep on getting skunked! 

Sometime later, Larry tied a variation of the Max Canyon fly called the Dark Max Canyon. It’s a darker fly, has a lower profile and is effective in all water types. Here’s the recipe. 

Hook:  Mustad 36890, sizes 4-6.
Thread:  3/0 Black Monocord.
Tip:  Flat gold Mylar tinsel.
Rib:  Medium gold oval tinsel.
Body:  1/3 orange & 2/3 black wool or yarn.
Hackle:  Black Saddle.
Wing:  2/3 black calftail with 1/3 orange calftail on top.

Step 1

Tie in flat gold tinsel at the hook bend and wrap 1/8 inch forward 

above the hook barb. Attach the tinsel and orange yarn.

Step 2

Wrap the yarn up 1/3 inch and attach the black yarn.

Step 3

Wrap the black yarn up 2/3 of the shank, 

spin 5 or 6 turns of gold oval tinsel forward 

and tie off. Attach the black saddle hackle.

Step 4

Wrap the black hackle forward and tie it back to a 45-degree angle. 

Step 5

Cut a clump of black calftail for the underwing and a smaller amount of orange calftail for the overwing and tie in the wing. Secure them tightly and complete the head.

How to Tie Fan Wing Flies

Brown Hackle Peacock 

Fan wing flies were most popular from the early 1920’s to the early 1950’s. To many, fan wing patterns were very classy and effective but harder to tie than other flies. They were primarily used to represent a large mayfly, but the wing style did not closely resemble a mayfly since they were lop-eared instead of the customary upright position. In spite of this deviation, they still fished very well. 

 The wings come from the breast and flank feathers of mallards, wood ducks and other types of ducks and birds. Fan wings are not the easiest to tie, are very fragile and seldom last after hooking numerous fish. Another problem can develop when casting the fly. The wings will often twist and turn in the air as well as float off balance on the water. This is due to their cupped wing feathers. 

The fan wing fly shown below is called a Brown Hackle Peacock. Here are the tying instructions. To make a base for the feather stems and to help hold them in place, wrap several X-winds around the hook. Place the wings together fanning outward and pinch the quill ends with your fingers so that they straddle the hook. Set them in place with 5 or 6 tight overwraps. Next, wrap 3-4 turns of thread around the base of the quill ends and tighten them to the hook. Check for the alignment and reposition them if necessary. Then, make several more turns of thread abound the base and trim of the ends. Cement the windings and finish the fly.

How to Tie Dry Flies that Float Higher and Drier

"Heavily-Hackled" Grey Hackle Peacock Fly

Fishing the rugged waters of many western rivers and streams can play havoc with many of the more delicate feather wing flies. Constantly using fly floatants and refurbishing the hackles to help your pattern float can take away time from your fishing, so here’s is a solution. Use a heavily-hackled pattern. This will create a fly that has higher buoyancy and stronger endurance to withstand the wear and tear on delicate dry flies. Here is the method to tie a Grey Hackle Peacock.  

Step 1. Begin by tying in red tail fibers and a peacock herl body 2/3 up the shank and tie it off. Then tie in a long Grizzly saddle hackle and wrap it forward to the hook eye and tie off.  

Step 1. Tying the Heavily-Hackled" Grey Hackle Peacock

Step 2. Wrap the hackle back to the body and bring it forward again to the hook eye and tie it off. The result should show a large, bushy hackle.

Step 2. Tying the Heavily-Hackled" Grey Hackle Peacock

Step 3. Trim off the excess hackle and finish the head.

How to Unsnag a Snagged Fly

Snagged Up!

Following are some techniques I've used over the years to unsnag a snagged fly. But a note of caution: Don’t take any unnecessary chances when trying to retrieve your favorite pattern. Losing a fly is always better than risking the possibility drowning, breaking a bone or hooking yourself. 

WATER SNAGS

1. First, use 5 or 6 roll casts over the suspected snag area to try and unhook the fly.

2. Put a few feet of slack line out and twitch or jiggle it several times in different directions.

3. If possible, wade as close to the snag as you safely can, point your rod tip slightly under the water and reel the line in until it is taut. Then, slightly tug on the line a few times to try and free it.

4. When all else fails, reel in all of the slack line so that it is taut, point the rod in the direction of the snag and give the line several straight pulls to free it. If it doesn't, break it off and tie on another fly.

TREE SNAGS

1. To begin, locate the snagged area and slightly jiggle the line to see if it will come free.

2. If possible, reel in the line so that the rod tip can reach the fly and jiggle the rod several times to try and free it.

3. If the snag is close enough to reach with a long stick or wading staff, use either one to try and jostle the fly free.

4. Like a snag in the water, reel in all of the slack line to the tip top guide, point the rod and steadily pull it until the line breaks or the fly comes loose.

Fly Fishing for Winter Steelhead

Doug Stewart with a Winter Steelhead caught with a fly rod.

Methods for catching winter steelhead on a fly rod.

When I was eleven or twelve years old, my dad taught me how to catch winter steelhead using a drift rod, but it was an arduous endeavor. Getting snagged up and tying new outfits in the rain and sleet was a very cold and frustrating experience, but in time I learned how to catch fish. As I got older, I started to fly fish for winter steelhead, but I was not fully committed. Hence, I would start out by trying to hook one on a fly rod, and if I didn’t I would switch to using my drift rod. Sometimes I would use the drift rod first and then my fly rod.

I eventually knew that if I was going to be successful I had to make a total commitment to fly fishing only. I also realized that the reason I wasn’t having any luck was because my 7 1/2 to 9 foot leader was too long and it was drifting above fish. I had to cut my leader down to 4 to 6 feet, and in many cases used a sinking line, lead core lines or split shot. Finally, in the early 60’s, my frustrations were over as I caught my first winter steelhead on the Sandy River using a sinking shooting-head. The fly was the classic Polar Shrimp.

However, these types of lines and terminal tackle were prone to snagging up, so I began to use the dry line “high stick” method. This allows one to cover waters that have ledges, pocket water and rough troughs without snagging as much. Strike indicators will also allow you to detect both strikes and snags. With your arm vertically extended, this method will help you manipulate the line by using mends, twitches, slack line draws and line lifts to avoid hang-ups. The use of a bobber near the butt extension will help to float the line and detect quick takes.

Tying and Fishing Crawdad Patterns

Mud Bugger

Crawdads, also called Crayfish or Mud Puppies, are a main staple for fish in many lakes and rivers. Crawdad fly patterns are very effective for a variety of fish including trout and bass. Some tiers like to tie close imitations of crawdads, but from my experience, patterns that are suggestive of the real thing are more effective. Shown below is a very simple and effective imitation that was tied by a friend of mine which he called the Mud Bugger.

How to fish with crawdad patterns:
Because crawdads like to eat small fish, decomposed materials and a variety of insects, the flies should be twitched along the bottom or dead drifted in moving water.

Materials to tie the Mud Bugger:
Hook:  9672 Mustad 4-8
Thread:  3/0 Monocord
Tails:  Fox squirrel hair split apart
Wing case:  Oak turkey feather
Body:  Olive chenille
Hackle:  Olive brown

How to tie the Mud Bugger.

Step 1. Tying the Mud Bugger

Tie in the tails and split them apart. Cut out a wing 

case that is 1/8 to 3/16 inches wide and attach it vertically.

Step 2. Tying the Mud Bugger

Attach the body and hackle material.

Step 3. Tying the Mud Bugger

Wrap the body forward to 1/16 inch of the hook eye and follow 

with the hackle. Trim the hackle on top of the hook to 1/8 inch.

Step 4. Tying the Mud Bugger

Pull the wing case forward over the body and hackle and tie it off. 

Coat the wing case with head cement or other lacquer and finish tying the head off.

Kubitz Special Steelhead Fly

Kubitz Special Steelhead Fly

The Kubitz Special steelhead fly had an interesting development. When my son Jeff was 12 years old, he was helping me in my fly shop. Being a creative fly tier, he would at times make up some weird looking patterns. They went mostly unused, but I would keep them around my desk so he wouldn’t feel as though his efforts went for naught. One day he tied a fly that was somewhat uncustomary in that Krystal Flash was a predominant feature. Like the others, it was added to the collection. It remained there for several months, but every so often it would catch my eye and I’d pick it up to consider its possibilities.

This feeling gradually grew on me until my curiosity was overwhelming, and I decided to try it for winter steelhead. The next morning I drove to the Sandy River and began casting my 350-grain shooting head with a 10-pound, five-foot leader.  Four casts later I had hooked and landed a bright 20-pound fish. With this startling success, I began to use a sparse amount of Krystal Flash for some of my standard patterns.  From then on I paid more attention to Jeff’s creative fly innovations. The fly was named after the access road to the river.

Materials:
Hook:  36890 Nos. 4-6
Tail:  Black Krystal flash                                                                          
Body:  Rear 1/3 hot green chenille, front 2/3 purple wool
Rib:  Silver oval tinsel
Hackle:  Purple saddle
Wing:  Full black Krystal Flash tied in body length
Head:  3/0 black

Step 1

Attach a sparse amount of black Krystal Flash 

for the tail. Tie in the oval tinsel and the chenille. 

Step 2

Wrap the green chenille up 1/3 and attach he purple wool. 

Step 3

Wrap the wool up and follow with five to six turns of tinsel.  

Attach the purple hackle.

Step 4

Spin the hackle forward three to four times and wrap slightly back 

over it to form a 45-degree angle. Then, tie a full wing of Krystal 

Flash about the length of the body. Finish the head and cement. 

Matching the Hatch with Pizazz

March Brown

A Gaudy Fly

It’s amazing what flies will work when fish are selective. One day I fished a mayfly hatch for over an hour without so much as a nibble. Good fish were still rising as I sat down to tie on another fly. I was close to giving up when an old timer sauntered up and asked, “How ya doing there young feller?”

“Not very well, I’m sorry to say. I’ve got a perfect match for the March Brown but they’re refusing it. There must be too many naturals on the water.”

He looked at me with a glint in his eyes and said, “Son, fish can get downright choosy when they’re looking for the right groceries. Ya gott’a be innovative if ya know what I mean. Mind if I give’er a try?”

I nodded, but almost laughed when he tied on a huge fly with pink gaudy feathers, a scraggly purple body and pink rubber legs. It bore no resemblance to the naturals, and as he began to cast I knew that it would probably spook every fish, not to mention the water ouzels. On his first cast the fly hit the water with a loud splash and instantly an 18 incher grabbed it and went cartwheeling downriver. I was stunned. 

Then he looked at me and said, “Now son, that’s how ya match the hatch!”