This month's incarnation of my skater pattern was inspired by Mr. Allan Melville of Ontario, Canada. I have been in contact with Allan through social media and just before my friends and I set off on our trip to BC in September, Allan messaged me with pictures of his version of my fly. Allan wanted feedback on his proportions and material selection for the wings. As we went back and forth, I noticed that the color combination Allan was using looked great. I had bought some orange cow elk for wings and had not figured on a color blend to make it work. Thanks to Allan, I now have a recipe that makes the orange wings pop. I shamelessly stole Allan's design and like the result.
On our second day in Steelhead Paradise, we were forced to take a day off from fishing due to blown rivers. I hurriedly pulled materials out that mimicked Allan's fly. I tied that pattern in sizes ranging from 4 to 10 and shared a few with my companions as we anticipated dropping rivers in the coming days. We all agreed that this version of my fly looked promising.
The following day found us exploring a smaller river system and the first run we fished was near some rodeo grounds. I anxiously tied on and fished the lastest configuration of the LW and fished this water with confidence. No surprise that with the low returns, there was no steel feedback, but seemed a couple trout wanted to crush it.
With the colorful personality of this fly and having fished it for the first time by the rodeo grounds, it got the name "Rodeo Clown". No steelhead on this fly yet, but just a matter of time...
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