In this video, Simon ties a versatile dry fly which makes a great searching pattern in the Spring and Fall. Skwalas are spring stoneflies that, if you time it right, trout can go nuts for. The further East you go from out home in the Willammette Valley, the more relevant these insects become. The Yakima up North gets a significant hatch, along with the Owyhee and the Bitterroot out East. We do see some skwalas here in the valley each Spring, so having some can make for a great searching pattern with a dropper on a nice Spring day. The issue with some flies is that they are single use for one hatch. This fly aims to solve that issue and can double as a hopper in the fall. There is nothing worse than loading you box up with one type of insect which hatches for a short window, and then those flies take up space in your box until next year. During the fall any leftover Skwoppers make a great searching pattern during hopper season. The fly is suggestive of a hopper or skwala and is buoyant enough to run a hopper below. The hackle can also be trimmed when you want it to ride lower. Colors and sizes can be adjusted based on your fishery’s needs.
Skwopper
Hook- Ahrex 570 Dry Long: Size 8
Thread- Semperfli Olive Nanosilk: 50D
Eggsack- Hareline Senyo’s Fusion Dub: Midnight & Hareline Ice Dub: Peacock
Dubbing- Hareline Microfine Dry Dubbing: Sulphur Yellow & BWO Grey Olive
Foam- Hareline 2mm Hi-Float Foam: Hopper Tan
Legs- Montana Fly Company Small Barred Sexi-Floss: Olive
Hackle- Whiting Saddle: Grizzly Dyed Olive
Wing- Dyed Deer Body Hair: Olive
Resin- Solarez Bone Dry
Bobbin- Stonfo Steeltech Bobbin
Additional Tools/Materials- Dr Slick Hair Stacker & Hareline Overton’s Wonder Wax
Vise- Renzettti Traveler 2304
