Art Lee - Tying & Fishing The Riffling Hitch

The below post is one I put together using Tying and Fishing the Riffling Hitch by Art Lee. I also used some images from a few of Art's articles in Wild Steelhead & Atlantic Salmon. 

Fishing a Riffle Hitched fly can be the difference between striking out and hitting a home run. Amazingly, I've seen a lot of fishless days go by and never is the hitch used. This is especially true on the Atlantic Salmon Rivers of Quebec & New Brunswick.

Art Lee wrote a great book on fishing the riffling hitch. He also provides a pretty good history of the riffling hitch and gives some great examples of when and how to use the technique.

  

Lee Wulf was a pioneer of Atlantic Salmon in Eastern Canada. He traversed Newfoundland, Labrador, and Quebec (even into BC) by Float plane and was the first western angler to ever fish on many rivers he fished. On one remote trip to Portland Creek in Newfoundland, Wulff met ;ocals who introduced him to a style of attaching the fly which creates drag and lift, and seems to entice salmon from the local waters. Wulf will go on to develop this "hitch" and calling both the Portland Hitch and the Riffling 

Below: Tying the Riffling Hitch 

Illustrations by Galen Mercer

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Note: Figure 4: Missing 

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