• John Kreft – 2026 Buz Buszek Award Recipient

    Last week at FlyFest, Fly Fishers International announced I was the recipient of the 2026 Buz Buszek Memorial Fly Tying Award, their highest honor for fly tying, recognizing a lifetime of excellence in tying, innovation, education, and preserving the craft. A friend of mine wrote: “Over the years you have continually represented fly patterns but…

  • Mayflies are Hatching Again

    As a dry fly fisher, late September and October are some of my favorite times of year. Mayflies are hatching again, and I always look forward to seeing Caudatellas, Drunella flavilinea (Flavs), and Green Drakes. We’ve observed a wide variety of other insects on the water. But those darn fish have certainly been fickle this…

  • Ray Bergman’s Esmeralda

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Ray Bergman’s Esmeralda. It’s been awhile since I featured an old fly and decided to get out Ray Berman’s Trout and find a fly to tie. I just like the elegance and simplicity of a Bergman wet fly and it forces me to practice mounting duck quill wings whenever…

  • September Days on the Water

    Seasons change, but this can be a magical time on the river as more and more insects hatch and fish rising to eat them. I don’t want our September days on the water to end. You might recall I take more pictures when the fishing is slow, so I wanted to share some of those…

  • Odds and Ends

    I thought it was time for another Odds and Ends post. It feels good to be out on the river again. Yes, the Metolius has been somewhat fickle, some insects and a few fish rising to them. But no two days are the same, and the next day will find us sitting and watching the…

  • Island Fish

    Every few years, we discover a fish on the Metolius that has made its home close to shore, allowing us to watch it throughout the season. We aren’t the only ones who notice. Other fly fishers will comment about seeing the fish. In fact, recently, an angler walked by and said he had been fishing…

  • Refreshing My Fly Boxes

    We’re slowly getting back to the river and I thought about refreshing my fly boxes. As you might recall, we had to cut our annual fly fishing road trip short because Dancingtrout ended up suffering two strokes while we were camping just outside of Ennis, MT. I wrote about it in My Ongoing Tribute to…

  • Back at the Vise

    It’s been a while, but I’m back at the vise after receiving a customer order for a few Mayfly dry flies. His order was almost exclusively size 18 Mayflies. I thought you might enjoy seeing some of them. The flies above are size 18 Stalcup CDC Biot Comparadun BWO. I must say they are not…