Old leather, sheepskin, metal. Those are the materials for what was a very common sight years ago – fly wallets! We didn’t have the plastic containers so many of us use today. Many of our fly boxes consist of foam slots or clear plastic, materials unavailable decades ago. A friend of mine recently gave me this…
How many fly fishing leaders do you use in a year? Here’s a tip to make your fly fishing leader last longer. The problem: you connect a standard 9′ leader to your fly line and go fishing. How many times do you change flies? If you’re lucky, you catch fish on the first fly tied…
This is a size 16 Pale Morning Dun Sparkle Dun Mayfly or PMD for short. One of my favorite flies. It’s in the top 5 of many fishermen in the know. The Sparkle Dun is a Craig Matthews pattern from Blue Ribbon Flies. I tie this simple, yet effective fly in size 22 Blue Wing Olive…
Sometimes, I’m a “just-in-time” fly tyer. This video was shot on a Montana road trip. We’re headed east from Spokane towards the Big Hole river and I was trying to tie up some Spruce Moth patterns. Well, we seemed to find a section of bad road on the interstate with lots of bridges. As you…
OK, so I’m walking up the river trail yesterday and something caught my eye. Floating down the edge of the river was this little guy: My immediate thought was, why is this mouse floating down the river? Secondly, I wondered what would happen if a Bull Trout was near? He stopped at this bunch of…
OK, I know it might be a little early to think about fishing Rusty Spinners, but I taught a fly tying session that included a couple of great patterns for you to use later this year. Spinners are the final mayfly stage, after a nymph molts into a dun. It’s amazing to me that another…
I like simple flies. There’s something elegant about making a beautiful fly with only a few materials…that catches fish! Some people call them “guide flies.” While I’m not a guide, I enjoy sharing my flies with friends and strangers. And it feels good when someone says “hey, I caught a fish on your fly!” The…
I noticed green grass beginning to grow the last couple of days. That can only mean one thing…it’s SPRING. Longer and warmer days also brings out more bugs for us to imitate. Beside the obvious March Brown, there is an important hatch on many rivers of the first large stonefly of the season. Yes, the…
The NW Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo is this weekend at the Linn County Fairgrounds in Albany, OR. I’ll be tying each of the three days. Stop by and say “hi”. I’ll be watching many of the 72 concurrent tyers and catching up with friends I only see once a year. I always find…
