The Steep Hill
Special is my second oldest commercial pattern. I have tied it
for fly bins in fly shops for over twelve years. It has been
an Umpqua catalogue pattern since 1996.
I tie my own on
an inverted 3/0 hook, using the Tiemco 411S, which is
purposely constructed for inverted or "bendback"
applications. The length of the pattern can be adjusted to
imitate a variety of inshore baitfish common to Northeast
inshore game fisheries. It is my opinion that it is most
effective tied 7 to 9 inches in length, about the size of a
mature, well fed sand eel. It's primary feature is that
because the hook is inverted, it can be confidently fished
over/within potentially very productive structures (rocks,
kelp, eel grass, floating debris, etc.) that would trap
conventionally oriented patterns. Also, if the water is
churned up with algal debris, the Special will skate on
through and readily take fish, while your hook point down
pattern will harvest a bounty of algae and very rarely take a
fish.
I developed the
pattern in response to structure inaccessibility,
specifically, to fish the rock headlands that define the
southerly end of Steep Hill beach at the mouth of Plum Island
Sound in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Tidal currents there are very
strong. The rocks, boulders, and kelp beds provide predators,
such as striped bass and bluefish, ambush sites for terrain
masking baitfish conveyed by the tide's flood and ebb. For a
fly fisher to be consistently successful at this site, his/her
imitation must similarly have the ability to terrain mask over
and between the structure. Tying the pattern, hook point
inverted, was the answer.
The example
shown above is a bit over 8 inches in total length. It uses
un-dyed polar bear as a primary tail material and dyed pale
olive over dark olive over lavender over pink bucktail as a
wing lay-up. A few strands of rootbeer and peacock Krystal
Flashä and pearl Polarflashä provide sparse highlights to
the top and sides, complementing the bold natural translucency
of the polar bear (application of gratuitous flash should be
assiduously avoided). The eyes are epoxy coated 3.5 mm
prismatic stick ons, black on silver, epoxied in place. The
natural taper of the bear hair provides the Steep Hill Special
with more than adequate tail suppleness (critical to its
ability to swim).
I have taken
many, many stripers over 36" with the Special. I do not
go out with at least four, from 5 to 9 inches, in my fly box.
