Last week found us searching for fishable water. We call that “Plan B” fly fishing. Our original plan was to spend time fishing the confluence of the Clark Fork and St. Regis river, then move to the Bitterroot and Beaverhead rivers. We delayed the start of our 2020 fly fishing road trip by a day…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is a Northern Idaho Flying Ant. This fly is one from a box of old flies I borrowed from my friend Jim Fisher. He learned to fly fish in Northern Idaho. This fly is probably from the 1950’s or 60’s. Here is the top view of the fly. The…
We always say no two fishing days are alike. Well, that statement applies to our 2020 Kelly Creek and NF Clearwater River fly fishing adventure. No two years are alike! Last year we had a terrific time fly fishing Idaho’s Kelly Creek and North Fork Clearwater River and decided to try it again this year….
This week’s Throw Back Thursday fly is Wally’s Feather Duster. The fly was in a box of flies I borrowed from my friend Jim Fisher. The fly was developed by Wally Eagle in West Yellowstone in the 1970’s. Materials used to tie the fly included a real feather duster, hence the name. I found information…
I get asked all the time about my camera equipment for fly fishing and fly tying to capture images here on RiverKeeper Flies. I thought I’d share my equipment and a little information about why I use them. If you aren’t interested in photography details, I totally understand if you skip this week’s post. First…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is a Bob Jacklin Salmonfly. My friend Jim Fisher loaned this #4 salmonfly to me for this post and told me it was tied by Bob. I wrote a previous TBT post featuring Jacklon’s Salmonfly, a different version than the image above. Jacklin is a fixture in West Yellowstone,…
I’ve been fishing quite a bit lately and find myself with a little extra time for self-reflection while waiting for mayflies to begin hatching. I’ve talked about my zen fly fishing in other posts and decided to share a few thoughts from the river and how I see fly fishing through the lens of a…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Black Brahan Atlantic Salmon Fly. This is one of five Atlantic Salmon flies my friend Jim Fisher purchased during his 1986 fishing trip on the river Spey in Strathspey, Scotland. He was successful landing a 32 inch, 12 pound Atlantic Salmon on a Munro Killer using a Winston 9′…
I’ve had a love / hate relationship with my knots the last couple of weeks. I was surprised because I tie hundreds of knots every year. I lost some nice fish because my knot didn’t hold. Whose fault was that? Bad leader? Nope…it was all mine. Here are the effective fly fishing knots I use….
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Barr’s Meat Whistle TBT. I tied this fly recently for a customer and thought it a good candidate for my TBT post. John Barr started developing the Meat Whistle in 2002. He spent two years tweaking the fly and fishing it alongside his normal spinning rod jig. It…
