I’ve been in Kauai a couple of weeks and have taken the opportunity to tie a few flies during the rainy and windy days. Fly tying in Kauai isn’t the first time I’ve tied flies in paradise. What was so unique this year were all the chickens running around our condo and the beach! It…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday post is about some old Herter’s Fly Tying Manuals. Inside cover I’ve had several Comments about Herter’s since highlighting the Herter’s No. 4 fly tying vise a couple of week’s ago. This should bring back some of the same memories…a couple of Herter’s Fly Tying books from the 1960’s. My…
In mid-December, I wrote a post about Choosing a Fly Box. I still need to fill a fly box with BWO flies, so it’s timely for me to highlight a few important flies I plan to place in the fly box. I’ll provide some of my favorites to help you create your own BWO fly…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Roxey’s Gray Squirrel Tail streamer, also known as the Roxey Roach Special. I was contacted by a customer in early January asking if I would tie a few streamer fly patterns someone in his family had developed many years ago. I like a challenge, so I responded with…
I hope you are finalizing your plans to attend the 2020 NW Fly Tyer and Fly Fishing Expo in Albany, OR. It’s just over 3 weeks away. As usual, you’ll see me demonstrating a few flies that will catch fish!
This week’s Throw Back Thursday post is about a Herter’s No. 4 Fly Tying Vise. Did any of you begin tying flies with this vise? It’s a vintage fly tying vise from the mid-1950’s that my friend Jim Fisher used growing up in Idaho. It’s one of the items he shared with me during a…
I got your attention, didn’t I? No, I’m not suggesting I tie perfect flies. I wanted to express how difficult it is to tie perfect flies. To me, the perfect fly is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, tied with proper proportions, and entices a fish to eat it. It might imitate a real insect or…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Ray Bergman’s Beauty. This fly was tied by my friend Jim Fisher, the 2011 Stan Walters Memorial Tyer of the Year from the Oregon Council of Fly Fisher’s International. I recently spent a few hours with him for a tutorial on selecting materials and techniques used to tie…
I wanted to highlight one of the Sparkle Dun deer hair patches I’ve been using. In the last week, I tied 6 dozen Green Drake Sparkle Duns and it reminded me how important finding and using the right deer hair is to successfully tie these flies. Half of the flies were for a customer and…
Today’s Throw Back Thursday post is an old leader wallet. I visited my good friend, Jim Fisher earlier this week and he pulled out several older fly fishing items in his collection. The leader wallet was one of them. It was owned by his uncle Tony D’Andrea who lived in Idaho and fished the St….
