• Organize a Fly Box

    OK, I’ve got a few questions for you today. How many fly boxes do you have? How do you organize a fly box? How many fly boxes do you take fishing? Here are the fly boxes currently in my fishing pack. Every fly fisher does things different. Managing their flies and fly boxes is no exception….

  • Tellico Nymph

    The Tellico Nymph is this week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly. This is one I probably tied in the 1970’s. It was a fly pattern out of the American Nymph Fly Tying Manual by Randall Kaufmann. I tied many flies from this book as I learned new fly tying techniques. It fishes well today and is…

  • Spinners

    We’ve been fishing the river quite a bit lately and have noticed LOTS of spinners on the water. My wife, the Bug Lady, searches back eddies for bugs while waiting for the hatch to happen. Green Drake Spinner What is a spinner you ask? Well, spinners are the final phase of a mayfly’s life, be…

  • Brassie

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Brassie. Here is a fly I tied many years ago. I found the fly pattern in Randall Kaufmann’s Nymphs book. As you can tell, it’s a simple pattern to tie. The Brassie was developed by Gene Lynch in the 1960’s. Lynch among other South Platte River fly tyers…

  • How to play and land fish

    Here are a few thoughts about how to play and land fish. Over the years, I’ve changed my tactics. I use a different leader size to fish my spring creek these days. I used a Rio Powerflex 9 foot 5x (5.0 lbs) leader right out of the package for years and was fortunate to catch…

  • Fan Wing Green Drake

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is a Fan Wing Green Drake. I chose this week’s fly in hopes the Green Drake hatch on the Metolius will start soon. I’ve seen a handful, but not enough for the fish to take notice. If this fly has a different well-known name, I don’t know it. And…

  • Match the Hatch

    If you fish dry flies, you know what I mean when I say Match the Hatch. Determine what is hatching on the river or lake that day and hopefully have a pattern or two in the fly box that will imitate the real bug and fool a fish. Sometimes it’s an easy answer. You look forward…

  • Goddard Caddis

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Goddard Caddis. Originally known as the G & H Sedge, it was created by John Goddard and Clive Henry in England as a stillwater pattern. Goddard gave the pattern to Andre Puyans (a great fly tyer as well from California) in the 1960’s. Puyans in turn shared…

  • My East Lake Fly Box

    Since the Crooked River Flies, Basic Dry Flies, and Basic Nymph Flies Fly Boxes are so popular, I thought I’d add an East Lake Fly Box to my RiverKeeper Flies Fly Patterns page. While my first love is river fishing, I do fish lakes. In fact, friends are surprised when they see me at a lake. I guess my…

  • Quigley Cripple

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Quigley Cripple, developed by Bob Quigley in the late 1970’s for Northern California’s Fall River. Seems like Northern California is the birthplace of several flies I like. Here is my Green Drake Quigley Cripple. As the story goes, Bob was fishing a Humpy and catching fish with…