For the most part, I only carry a few flies in my box while wading, with little to get in my way. My wading gear is stream lined and my huge assortment of patterns stays in my Simms Boat Bag in the boat. In this vast collection every fly has a purpose; dull colored flies, bright flies, dark flies, big flies, small flies and patterns for slick or choppy water, and several kinds of wakers for fishing on top.& nbsp; Muddlers and Buddlers in purple and black are favorites. They are some of the most versatile flies for fall steelhead. In the riffley water they pop in and out of the surface film and make it possible to attract fish that won't come to a wet fly. Or you can put a riffle hitch on one and slide tit across a glassy tail-out. Iíve guided people who fished skating and waking flies, and they have been pretty successful, though never having connected with a waking fly myself. I figured it was because I hadn't put in enough time...hadn't paid my dues. Last week I fished with my girl Marcy on the Deschutes for a couple of days. I have an advantage over most of the other guides. Normally I camp down in the canyon so I donít have far to drive to put the boat in the water, which allows me to be first at the boat ramp in the morning. The first angler through the water when the fish are fresh and grabby has a huge advantage. We where the first boat to Cedar Island and got to watch all of the other boats float by. Later we stuck four and landed two. As the day went on we continued to get hook-ups most everywhere we stopped the boat. We pulled into our evening water early in the afternoon. Staking out our territory early allowed us to nap and rest-up for the evening hunt. Making a few casts above the boat while waiting for the sun to go off the water seemed like a good idea. Three casts later a fish was hooked and beached. Enough fish had been hooked that it seemed like a good idea to skate a fly across the top. Digging through my box and knowing exactly what fly to use, a BUDDLER revealed itself to be the perfect type of fly for this water. A riffle hitch was put in place to keep the fly on top thus creating a wake. While working the head of the fly line out, the angle of presentation was tested and tuned. Casting down and across and putting a small mend into the line, the tilt of the rod lead the fly from the center of the river, then into the bank. It looked so good...the only thing in sight was the little black head of the Buddler and the small subtle wake it left behind ...with me holding a long shock loop loosely so a fish would have time to turn with the fly and hook itself.
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Fishing steelhead like this is very methodical as you get into a rhythm and block everything else out to fully focus on the fly and the swing speed. A fish exploded on it like a cat pouncingon a ball, it missed it the first time and just kept coming back until it finally got it! A couple of head shakes later it was gone! Guess it went home mad because it wouldnít come back. Marcy sat up in the dry grass, awakened by the commotion. Still jazzed up by the fish on the surface, I told her about all of the excitement that happened while she was sleeping. Twenty minutes later she was into a fish, and I was the photographer. A little later, my waking Buddler was again in the choppy water. The fly waked right between two submerged boulders and a gaping hole opened up as the fly was sucked under in a whirl pool. The steelhead flashed brightly and took the loop from my fingers and became impaled by the hook!!!! Running and jumping down river it didn't appear to be too happy. Ten minutes later it was resting on its side in the shallow water. My first steelhead on a waking fly. Marcy went on to land another fish and then it was dark.
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