2026 Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo

I’m headed to Albany, OR for the 2026 Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo on March 13 & 14. I found out late last year my RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple had been selected for the show fly. I’m proud of that, but also acknowledge the fly is a variant of some sort I’ve tweaked a little and use it exclusively as a DRY fly.

The image above shows several examples to imitate the mayflies seen on the rivers we fish.

Here is a box I tied and plan to donate to the Expo. I’m guessing they will raffle it off, so keep an eye out and you might be the lucky winner!

From right to left:

• #18 BWO
• #16 PMD
• #14 March Brown
• #12 Caudatella

The RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple is a fly pattern designed to imitate a mayfly cripple; a mayfly whose wings are a silhouette of the wing on the surface film or “stuck” during emergence.

The challenge in making an effective fly is to find the appropriate hackle. Early in the fly development, I used Hungarian partridge almost exclusively. I’ve experimented with chukar, quail, duck (mallard, green teal), jackdaw, starling, golden plover, or any other upland game bird. I settled on the covert feathers from mallard wings for PMDs and Green Drake imitations to match the dun-colored wing of the natural. The structure of the covert feather repels water better.

Other fly tyers have a similar fly, but I came by this fly honestly with the help of my wife, Dancingtrout. She came up with the original thought about a fly with wing silhouette on the water. I helped to devise an appropriate wing and added the Zelon tuft to emulate wings caught in a nymphal shuck and provide structure to keep the wing from collapsing of the body. All I know is it works!

Here is a link to my RiverKeeper Flies YouTube channel where I demonstrate how to tie the fly.

If you’d like to watch me tie a few flies, here is my schedule:

• Friday – 9 am to 11 am at table 5
• Saturday – 9 am to 1:30 pm at table 5

Enjoy…go fish!