This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Max Canyon steelhead fly.
Fall is in the air and I’ve heard a few fly fishers have been talking about steelhead fishing. I thought this was a perfect time to bring back a few steelhead flies for TBT!
The Max Canyon is a fly found in John Shewey’s Classic Steelhead Flies and I decided to look in my Steelhead fly box to see if I had a few of the flies. Low and behold, I found a couple Max Canyon flies. I must have tied this several years ago. Truth be told, the proportions leave a little to be desired…the body should be 1/3 orange and 2/3 black.
Doug Stewart created the Max Canyon in the early 1970’s for the Deschutes River and the canyon of the same name. Stewart combined black from the Skunk and orange from Brad’s Brat, two popular steelhead flies, to come up with the Max Canyon. It became an instant hit on the Deschutes and soon became a popular fly on other steelhead rivers.
Stewart, a former school teacher, started Stewart’s Fly Shop in Portland, OR in 1976. I read where the shop closed in 2008.
Enjoy…go fish!
