This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Quill Gordon. I think there’s something elegant about Catskill style flies. And the Quill Gordon is one of the originals. It was created by Theodore Gordon before 1906. Gordon was born in Pennsylvania in 1854 and is recognized as the father of dry fly fishing in America….
I love to see fish rise. That’s why I fish dry flies. Splashy rises are my favorite. It’s the type of rise form which tells me the fish are exploding at the surface with reckless abandon. I like those two words…reckless abandon. These takes may be the most memorable. Makes me smile just thinking about it….
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the LaFontaine Emergent Pupa. Anyone see any continuity from last week? Just checking… The LaFontaine Emergent Pupa is the final phase of a caddis as it climbs out of its pupal shuck and makes its way to the surface to finally fly away from the water. The earlier stage…
Yes, fall fishing is here. My wife is still clinging to the notion summer is not over, but the weather and changing leaves tell a different story. And the fishing is different too. Dry fly fishing is back with a vengeance. Gone are the dog days of summer and it’s been replaced with fish rising to strong…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the LaFontaine Deep Sparkle Pupa. Here is a fly I tied many years ago. I first learned of the Deep Sparkle Pupa when I purchased Gary LaFontaine’s book entitled Caddisflies in the 1980s. It took him 10 years to write the book because of the research he performed. When Gary…
I’ve been working hard adding fly patterns, so I thought I’d highlight a few recent changes you may not have seen. Even if you’re not a tyer, read on because some of these fly patterns are well known flies that can be purchased at your local fly shop. You might recognize the names…now you have…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Forest Maxwell’s Purple Matuka. I first started tying this fly in the 90’s after I met Forest. At that time, he worked part-time at Keith Burkhart’s Valley Flyfisher fly shop in Salem, Oregon. Forest talked me into a couple Powell steelhead rods for Karen and me to fish….
During the IFFF Fair in Bend, Oregon earlier this month, I had a chance to sit down and watch some pretty good fly tyers. I thought I’d share a few flies from the IFFF Fair. Lee Clark has a new version of the Clark’s Golden Stone he calls the Clark’s Lady Stone. The fly is…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Henryville Special. I’ve had this fly in my caddis box for awhile. Not sure where I bought it. The Henryville Special is a caddis imitation and was created by Hiram Brobst of LeHighton Pennsylvania in the 1930’s for the Broadhead Creek section of river called the Henryville…
Got a question for you. When you’re fly fishing your favorite river, do you cast to a spot, cast as far as you can, or just let your fly land on the water anywhere and hope a fish will swim by and eat it? I think you’ll have more success if you deliberately cast to a…
