• Boise Bound

    January is the beginning of serious fly tying. Tonight is session one of the Central Oregon Flyfishing Winter Fly Tying class. It’s the first of 12 straight weeks of classes for our COF members. I can’t believe this is my 7th year leading these classes. But that’s not the only fly tying activity on my schedule. I’ll…

  • Blonde Wulff

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is a Blonde Wulff, tied by Dan Bailey. Lee Wulff (1905 – 1991) created the Royal Wulff in 1930 along with the Gray Wulff and White Wulff. The Gray Wulff was the first of the series. He fished all three fly patterns on the Esopus River in the Catskill mountains of New…

  • Refilling Fly Boxes

    Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful 2017 and are beginning to develop fishing plans for 2018. I’ve been tying flies the last week as I begin refilling fly boxes. Mostly Beetle Bailey flies for a customer who plans to use them in Patagonia. But we had a new fly fisher stop by the…

  • Dan Bailey’s Mosquito

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Dan Bailey’s Mosquito. This fly was from a collection of flies tied by Dan Bailey. I was fortunate to be able to photograph a total of nine Bailey flies – a Blonde Wulff, Light Cahill, Grey Hackle, Dark Cahill, Ginger Quill, Black Bivisible, Black Gnat, Fan Wing Royal…

  • 2017 Comes to a Close

    As 2017 comes to a close, I wanted to express my gratitude to all my RiverKeeper Flies subscribers and readers who have found me one way or another. 2017 has been another good year. I picked one of my subscribers at random today and they will receive a dozen of my favorite RiverKeeper Flies. It’s my…

  • Fan Wing Royal Coachman

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Fan Wing Royal Coachman. This Fan Wing Royal Coachman was tied by Dan Bailey. It’s one of nine flies I was able to document with my camera. Last week’s TBT fly, the Black Bivisible, is the first fly I posted that was tied by Dan. Here is…

  • Teaching Soft Hackle Flies

    This week’s post is about teaching soft hackle flies, but before I get to that I wanted to make sure the non-tyers were taken care of as well. Be sure to read the end of this post about creating your digital fly fishing library and a Christmas present for one lucky subscriber. But first, don’t…

  • Black Bivisible

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Black Bivisible. This fly was from a collection of flies tied by Dan Bailey. I was fortunate to be able to photograph a total of nine Bailey flies – a Blonde Wulff, Mosquito, Light Cahill, Grey Hackle, Dark Cahill, Ginger Quill, Black Gnat, Fan Wing Royal Coachman,…

  • Cold Winter Day

    It’s been cold out lately. As I write today’s post early this morning, the thermometer reads 7 degrees. That’s right…single digits. For some reason, I haven’t made it out to the river lately. Too cold I guess. What should I do on a cold winter day? Tie flies! Here is a picture of Whychus Creek,…