Last week I wrote that I should start tying some flies with all the feathers I have. Well, I decided to go a little different direction. After all, it’s winter. We had our first snow last week and the highs this coming week are forecast for the low 30’s. When I got up this morning,…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Pritt’s Greentail. This soft hackle fly is another old fly pattern found in T.E. Pritt’s Yorkshire Trout Flies (1885) book. It’s listed as No. 33 on page 32. The second edition changed the title to North Country Flies (1886) to be more inclusive. Materials Wings Hackled from a feather from…
I spent a little time in the garage this week sorting fly tying materials. I periodically receive donations of fly tying materials and tools as well as fly fishing gear to benefit my Central Oregon Flyfishers club, the kids program – Next Cast Flyfishers, and Central Oregon Project Healing Waters. I’m always intrigued when I…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Royal Charlie. The Royal Charlie is another old fly pattern listed in The North Country Fly – Yorkshire’s Soft Hackle Tradition (2015) by Robert L. Smith. Many of these older soft hackle fly patterns come from the Yorkshire Dales in northern England. Wharfedale is a small area of…
Thanksgiving is only a few days away, which means winter is right around the corner. Do you know what that means? Blue Wing Olives will be the mayflies I plan to imitate. Gone are the bigger mayflies. What will get me through the next few months are hatches of BWO’s. So are you ready for…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is…tyer’s wax! I know it isn’t a fly, but I want to honor the history of fly tying and this is one way I can do that. I’ve been blessed to have a wonderful friendship with Gretchen and Al Beatty. I met them a few years ago during my…
This is the third year I’ve prepared a wish list for fly fisher’s. If you read prior year’s lists, there are several items remaining, because I really believe these are great gifts! I hope you find something useful on the 2018 Fly Fisher’s Christmas list. Many of these items can be purchased at your local…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Red Clock or Pheasant. I decided to tie an old soft hackle fly since I’ve been tying so many of my RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripples lately. I love the simplicity of these flies and am fascinated by older soft hackle fly patterns…or they would have called them…
In this week’s post, I continue making my transition from fishing to tying lots of flies. Read on to learn more about tying flies and 2018 Christmas list! I’m still adding flies to the provider box. If you read last week’s Filling the Provider Box post, you know I tied several dozen RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Lee Wulff’s Hitch Specials. Four flies make up Lee Wulff’s Hitch Specials – Silver Blue, Red Squirrel, Haggis, and Blue Squirrel. These are very interesting flies, built with a molded, plastic body. A friend loaned the flies to me for my Throw Back Thursday Fly posts. Lee Wulff’s…
