Steelhead Bee

Rainbow troutSurface

Roderick Haig-Brown's banded brown-and-yellow summer-steelhead dry, fished on or just under the surface. One of the original waking flies for fish that will rise.

Fish this when

Warm, clear summer water on classic runs where steelhead will come up — fished dead-drift or with a deliberate wake across the lie.

Why it works

A summer steelhead in warm water will move to the surface; the banded silhouette and the V-wake of a skated dry provoke the same rise a salmon gives a riffle-hitched fly.

Naturals it imitates