My skater was born out of the necessities of pure function, so efforts to create a pattern that stays on top and has good visibility were the key goals in its conceptualization. Over time, the pattern continues to evolve and I continue to tinker with colors, visibility posts, flash, etc.
This particular fly got it's name after realizing that it's color scheme utilized all the colors (plus a couple more) of Bill McMillan's famous Winter's Hope. I checked in with Bill to see if he'd be offended if I named my fly the Summer's Hope and Bill was gracious enough to reply that he felt my fly would be a fine compliment to his famous Winter's Hope.
Side View of Finished Fly!
I have been finding that the orange/yellow color combination for the visibility posts are probably the most easily seen under varied conditions. The color combos for the pattern seem endless and I have tied this skater in color schemes including those of the yellow stimulator (The "Stimuwaker"), October Caddis, McKenzie Green Caddis, Green Butt Skunk, all pink, and various other combinations of baby blue, black, purple, and pink.