RIO's Morrish Hitched Tube Skater

Few skaters perform exactly as we would like them to under all conditions. Sometimes they dip or dive and the faster the water, the more likely they are to go under. Riffle hitching has typically been the only tool that North American anglers have had to combat diving. It works well but it makes a mess out of your fly and reduces one's landing ratio due to odd pull-angles. Also, once you hitch a fly it is hard to want to use it again as will be disfigured and less attractive. Scandinavians and especially Icelandic salmon anglers have used hitched tubes for decades. They typically hitch very small sparse tubes and they tend to have holes on each side of the tube and you would use the appropriate hole depending on which side of the river you were fishing from. The Hitched Tube Skater has a single belly hole to simplify use and blends Scandinavian engineering with modern western steelhead fly design. This fly is light, easy to cast and can be fished using the hitch hole (recommended for fast water) or through the front nose hole (recommended if you want to move more water). The tube design also means that you can choose the appropriate hook for the fishery in question, downsizing and upsizing as needed. This fly enables me to fish faster water than I could previously, it enables anglers to show the fish a very light and active skittering way, and when fished through the nose hole, it is an excellent pattern for chugging, which remains my favorite method.

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