I was going to wait until later in the year to write this piece. But with the current cold snap that we’re experiencing here in Pennsylvania I’m spending a lot of time indoors reading about fishing, thinking about fishing, and planning my 2025 fishing. I was also thinking it would be good to write on this topic after I experienced the subject some. But then I thought if I write about it now I’ve got some accountability to report back whether my results are good or bad. Plus I thought perhaps some readers would have experience to share with us in the comments.
So think of this piece as a literature review for a research project and a call to action for myself and any interested volunteers.
I first heard about Skater (aka Neversink Skater or Skating Spider) flies in the book Fly Rod Trouting by Ed Shenk. Ed’s LeTort Hopper, LeTort Cricket and Shenk’s Sculpin are well known fly patterns. But in this book he also devotes seven pages to the mysterious Skater.
Also, about a year ago a friend brought these flies up in conversation and so with my current interest in fishing flies actively on the surface my thoughts turned to these unusual flies.
Widely Discussed in the Past but Weirdly Absent in the Now
What I find really curious about the skater fly is that many big names in fly fishing have written about them; Gary LaFontaine, Ed Shank, Joe Brooks, Charlie Fox, Vince Marinaro and Mike Lawson among them. But these flies have all but vanished from modern fly fishing discussions. To my knowledge I’ve never actually met an angler that uses them. And except for the one friend that I mentioned earlier, I’ve never even had anyone mention them to me.
However, as you’ll see, skater flies may be perfect when paired with the long rods of tenkara. Perhaps they’re poised for a revival? I guess that remains to be seen. But I know I’m excited to give them a try in 2025.
Bluebird days in midsummer are usually the bane of the fly fisher. We can look for a shaded portion of stream and fish terrestrials such as ants, hoppers and crickets, or we can try another hot-weather game that sometimes eclipses the terrestrial fishing- fishing the Skating Spiders.
– Ed Shenk, Fly Rod Trouting
What are Skaters aka Skating Spiders or Neversink Skaters?
Edward Ringwood Hewitt is the originator of the Neversink Spider as he called it. In 1937 Hewitt introduced these flies in an article called “A New Way to Catch Big Trout.” Sometimes you’ll see flies of this style referred to as “Skating Spiders”. Do not confuse these with the wet fly patterns generally referred to as North Country Spiders. They are quite unrelated. The skating spider is a large dry fly that’s meant to be fished in an active “skating” manner. Hewitt came up with the pattern while observing trout go after small butterflies.
Generally stated, Skaters are attractor dry flies that are meant to be fished actively on the water surface. Though various anglers have put their own spin on the design, a skater fly generally has a small hook with a vastly oversized hackle and no tails or body. In Joe Brooks’ book, Trout Fishing he says, “Today the term skater refers to a tailless, wide hackled fly, while spider usually means a skating type fly with tail.”
If you’re interested in a thorough history of the Skater fly then please head over to this article from the American Fly Fisher: Edward Hewitt and The Neversink Skater by Joseph Grigely, The American Fly Fisher, Spring 2023
As a tenkara angler, one thing that really caught my attention in this article was when Grigely writes “Hewitt was less interested in matching the visual appearance of insects than he was in matching the dynamic properties of their stream lives”.
“Hewitt was less interested in matching the visual appearance of insects than he was in matching the dynamic properties of their stream lives”.
– Joseph Grigely
Tying Skaters
The original Hewitt skaters were quite large flies with diameters of up to 2-inches but tied on small size 16 hooks. Additionally the original pattern had no body or tails. Depending on the size of the hackle and the size of the flies they may use 2 to 5 hackles.
Mike Lawson says in his Midcurrent article Unmatching the Hatch “I tie them on a size 14 hook with hackle suited to a size 6 or larger if I can find it.”
Part of the mystery of the skater’s absence from many fly boxes may be the difficulty in obtaining the proper feathers. The original pattern in its largest size calls for rooster spade hackles. The large stiff hackle feathers are now (and even at the time) in short supply. But don’t fret too much. We can make do. On the subject of finding the appropriate hackle Dan Bailey is quoted in in Joe Brooks’ Trout Fishing as saying “…if you are willing to compromise a little and be satisfied with what is, after all a pretty good spider, then you can use second-grade hackles.”
Ed Shenk talks about using larger hooks and smaller hackle for easier hook setting. He mentions tying them on hooks as large as size 8 with hackle diameters more like a silver dollar than the 2 inches of Hewitt’s original, and even “mini-skaters” as small as a quarter.
The extra large skaters will be very wind resistant and may be a real hassle to cast on light level fluorocarbon tenkara lines, so perhaps furled line or even a light PVC style line may be needed. Of course the smaller “mini-skaters” will be a little easier to cast.
Ed Shenk mentions that he works some flexament (a flexible fly tying cement) through the hackles after tying to stiffen them. And in a video by Davy McPhail he uses some flexible UV resin for the same. I’ll give the link to the video – but bear in mind it’s not historically accurate. But that’s okay. It will get you in the right direction and yield a functionally useful fly —>> Tying the Skater with Davy McPhail.
So with the tying of these things you’ll need to experiment a bit and see what you can do with the materials available to you . Maybe you’ll stick to smaller spiders – I think that’s probably my plan.
Fishing Skaters
Based on my research (no practical experience with these flies yet) the general idea with these flies is that you want to “skate” them on the surface. Basically think about insects fluttering on the surface of the water as they accidentally end up in the water in the case of terrestrials, or as they are hatching or laying eggs.
Different authors have different suggestions about fishing them. Some suggest more action, others less. Also there are varying suggestions as to whether to fish upstream, across, down etc. But the idea is to create that strike inducing skating action as the fly skips along the surface of the water. Basically let the fly (and the fish be your guide). What I mean is adapt your presentation based on what the fly is doing change things up until the action looks good and the fish react. This is where the experienced tenkara angler may have some advantage as we are (speaking generally) more used to imparting action to our flies.
The trick was to let the fly land on the water, let it drift a short distance, and then give the line a quick twitch, which made the fly jump across the surface on the tips of the hackle. To a trout, movement means life. The fish really aren’t looking closely at the fly.
-Mike Lawson, Unmatching the Hatch, Midcurrent March 2011
A typical tenkara presentation with the rod tip high and the line mostly off of the water may help to get the right action. But if fishing further off and the line can’t be kept clear of the surface it may help to have a high-floating line or to apply floatant to your line. Anyone that’s ever fished poppers will tell you that a sinking line is going to make it pretty tough to skip the fly on the surface.
When to Fish Them
I have to admit this is something that rather surprised me. I would naturally think of fishing these flies when there is apparent insect activity that the skating fly would imitate and of course that’s probably a good time. But in my research the authors have suggested in numerous instances as Ed Shenk says that the “bluebird days of midsummer” may be a particularly good time to try these flies. In article High Profile Imitations in Fly Fisherman Magazine Gary LaFontaine says “The spider is also dramatically explosive at times when there are not distinctly visible insects on the water.”
Conclusions
So, there are some obstacles to overcome. Such as developing a way to tie a properly functional skater. And then matching line, rod tippet and casting technique to properly handle these wind-resistant and potentially difficult to cast flies. And then honing the presentation techniques to skate it properly.
But in the end, I feel like those hurdles are not impossible to get over with tenkara gear. And perhaps the long rods we have in tenkara will allow us to give new life to these patterns. It will be an experiment that I’ll be conducting this year and I hope some of you will also give it a try and report back.
Reference Links:
Here are the reference links all in one place
Edward Hewitt and The Neversink Skater by Joseph Grigely, The American Fly Fisher, Spring 2023
High Profile Imitations by Gary LaFontaine, Fly Fisherman Magazine
Unmatching The Hatch by Mike Lawson, Midcurrent, March 2011.
Tying Video: Tying the Skater with Davy McPhail
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