The master trout angler Ed Hewitt developed the never sink Trout Skater Dry Flies many years ago for trout and Ed Shenk tied many of these for some of his special friends in Argentina. I’ve done well with these for trout but I never could catch any large smallmouth bass on them.
Then one day when I spotted many smallmouth bass leaping from the stream to grab natural damselflies in the air things changed. I put on one of Paul Young’s (the master and builder) Red Head Dry Flies which was tied on a long shank size 8 hook with over sized hackle. Skating this over those leaping bass in a manner to mimic the low flying natural damselflies gave me several dozen large bass.
Later to expand on this success I developed the Mr. Rapidan Skater, the Damselfly Skater and the Dragonfly Skater all of which are tied on size 8 long shank hooks with over sized long dry fly hackle. The secret to the success with these skaters is where and how you fish them.
Any part of the river where you see bass jumping from the stream to grab natural damselflies can be productive. However, if you don’t see many bass jumping you can still catch many bass in the tails of the pools and from deep cuts between the river-crossing ledges.
The technique which works well for me in fishing Skaters is to set myself up so the area I plan to fish is down and across stream from me at a 45 degree angle. I dress my fly and leader liberally with dry fly cream. I cast 30 to 40 feet down and across stream at a 45 degree angle. As soon as the fly lands on the stream I extend my fly rod 45 degrees up and out over the river. Using a stiff rod arm motion I skate the fly across the surface of the river in foot long burst every five seconds. Covering the feeding areas and the two sections of the stream mentioned will help you catch many bass with a very exciting tactic.
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