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I’ve been on the Big Island of Hawaii and will head home this week. It has been a while since I fly fished and decided to look at pictures I took of insects over the past three years to prepare myself for what hatches to expect when I return. What I found were lots of…

I returned to the river for the first time since returning from Patagonia. Yes, it’s been a while! It felt strange to be on the river. How long has it been since you’ve been on the water? If it’s been a while, are you ready to fish? I thought I was. I took a few…

In this week’s post, I thought I’d share some final images from Argentina. We spent a week fly fishing in Argentina at Chochoy Mallin lodge with SET Fly Fishing. A week later, we found ourselves in southern Chile fly fishing with Rumbo Patagon. Between these fly fishing weeks, we travelled by boat and bus through…

One of the reasons we travelled to Chile and fish in southern Patagonia was because of the scenery. Yes, catching Brown trout was the goal, but why not fly fish in a beautiful place? On this day, fly fishing the Rio Baguales with Rumbo Patagon was our destination and Torres del Paine was in full…

On two of our days at Rumbo Patagon, we ended up fly fishing the Rio Penitente in southern Chile. This was a terrific river to walk and wade as we fished for Brown trout. As you can tell from the image above, the river flows through a wide valley, which made it quite easy to…

Today’s a milestone for me. Know why? RiverKeeper Flies turned 10 years old on March 5! That’s right, I’ve been at the keyboard writing these posts for 10 years. It’s hard for me to believe where my journey has taken me. It began with only a one paragraph post and no photograph: “The NW Fly…

After spending a week fishing in Argentina, we travelled into Chile and slowly made our way to Puerto Natales in southern Chile for the inaugural season with Rumbo Patagon. We were excited to visit the Puerto Natales area. It is home to Torres del Paine National Park, a spectacular visual experience of the Andes mountains…

During our time at Chochoy Mallin, we fished two different beats on the Rio Trocoman. I hope you read yesterday’s post where I shared out experience on a section farther upstream. We decided to spend the night and enjoyed our fly fishing around Trocoman House. That’s right, we’re wearing our waders and boots and ready…

One of my favorite rivers while at Chochoy Mallin is fishing the Rio Trocoman with SET Fly Fishing. We fished the river last year and were introduced to willow worms for the first time. We arrived earlier this year, but the higher water and cooler temperatures meant we were too early for the hatch. Our…

The annual NW Fly Tyer and Fly Fishing Expo is fast approaching. This year’s title is Bugs and Bamboo and is scheduled for March 8 and 9 this year in Albany, OR. The image above is from 2017 when I was awarded the Stan Walters Memorial Fly Tier of the Year, recognition I am very…

This week, I share more of our adventure fishing Ñireco Creek and Rio Buraleo with SET Fly Fishing in Argentina. This day, we fished the Ñireco, a 21 mile small creek which flows through the Estancia, eventually flowing into the Rio Reñileuvu. We didn’t have the opportunity to fish here last year because there wasn’t…

If you are a regular here at RiverKeeper Flies, you know Dancingtrout and I fished in Argentina last year and returned to Chochoy Mallin with SET Fly Fishing last month. In addition, we spent another week in southern Chile to fly fish with Rumbo Patagon. This week, I’ll share some information about fishing Blanco Spring…

We just returned yesterday from our South America trip in Patagonia and I thought I’d post a few images from Chile. I hope to provide more information about each of our trip beginning next week. In addition, you’ll find a link below to a Zoom fly tying class I’ll be teaching on Thursday, February 1….

We just finished our first week in Patagonia and I thought I’d post a few images from Argentina. A long and skinny Rainbow from the Buraleo River. Dancingtrout and Tete. Dancingtrout teaching our pilot Tomy to fly fish. Another Buraleo Brown Trout taken with a streamer. Sight fishing to Rainbow Trout on Blanco Creek. Another…

By the time you read this post, I’ll be headed to Patagonia on a fly fishing trip in Argentina and Chile. We took a trip to Argentina last January to fish with SET Fly Fishing at the Estancia Chochoy Mallin Lodge and enjoyed our heli-fly fishing adventure so much, we decided to return again this…

This is my final post for the year and I’d like to share some of my favorite memories from 2023 on RiverKeeper Flies. You might recall I keep track of the flies I tie. This year, the grand total is approaching 1,450 with a couple more days to go until the new year. The total includes…

As I write this post on Monday, Christmas is only one week away. Have you finished all your shopping? If not, check out my 2023 Fly Fisher’s Christmas list for a few last minute ideas. I continue to spend time at the fly tying vise. I finished tying all of our flies for Patagonia which…

I’ve been spending a lot of hours at the vise lately, filling our Patagonia fly boxes for our trip to Argentina and Chile next month. I finished them last night, a total of 252 flies. I hope you read my Filling My Patagonia Fly Box progress report I wrote two weeks ago. Notice the “his…

I featured a midge pupa in last week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly post, Dorsey’s Black Beauty. It reminded me it’s time to tie on some nymphs if I want to see a trout on the end of my line. Yes, it’s time to fish with my Euro nymph rod. This is my small nymph fly…

I’ve been making progress in the last week, working on filling my Patagonia fly box. I thought you might enjoy a few images of the flies. The image above shows our “hers and his” fly boxes…one for Dancingtrout and one for me. They are filled with Fat Albert flies in brown/tan and black, sizes 8…

I’ve been sitting at my fly tying vise this week working on flies for our upcoming trip to Patagonia. All the flies are Fat Alberts in a couple of sizes and colors. My mind wanders a lot when tying and I started to think why are attractor fly patterns effective? I featured this fly last…

Welcome to this year’s holiday wish list. It seems like yesterday I was posting for 2022. Where has the year gone? I hope you find something useful on the 2023 Fly Fisher’s Christmas list. Many of these items can be purchased at your local fly shop and I encourage you to do so. But if…

How many flies do you really fish? If you are like me, you’ve got a short list of favorites. Mine is a Sparkle Dun and the IOBO Humpy this year. I met a customer the other day who purchased some of my flies and told me his favorite fly to fish is a Renegade. A…

The last few days I’ve been tying a fly order which include some of my favorite flies. These are the same flies I tied and donated to the recent CfR auction and benefited the Casting for Recovery – Oregon South my wife leads. My customer was one of the bidders for the flies, but lost…

While walking the river last week searching for rising fish, I stopped by an eddy to see what insects I might find. To my surprise, I found many fall PMDs and a few other insects as well. It reminded me of a few posts I’ve written about PMDs over the years. And it also made…

I am heading back to the vise this week as I begin to work on a new Patagonia fly order. That’s right, I placed an order with myself! We are returning to Argentina in early 2024 to fish at SET Fly Fishing’s Chochoy Mallin lodge. We’ll continue our travels to the Puerto Natales area in…

In this week’s post I’ll share our experience finishing our fall fly fishing road trip. If you are a regular here at RiverKeeper Flies, you might have noticed I combined an Images post with a fishing one last week. I really struggled with cell service in the Owyhee canyon and working on posts in very…

The 2nd Annual Cast One – Home Waters Annual Online Auction is live from September 27 thru October 5. Proceeds from the auction benefit Casting for Recovery (CfR). There are several items directly benefiting the Southern Oregon CfR retreat my wife runs which I’ve shared below. RiverKeeper Flies – Item #280 The box of 66…

I have a question for you. Where would you go fly fishing if you had a couple of weeks and a campervan? That’s the question we asked ourselves last week as we prepared to travel east. Our answer was Montana and Idaho. We checked the weather report, packed the van and headed out on Saturday…

In this week’s post, I would like to share a few odds and ends. My energy has returned after being down and out due to Covid and I finally made it to the river last week to fish a couple of days…and the trout were waiting for me! In addition, I found myself at my…

I’m looking at the calendar and note the first day of September is only a couple of days away. Usually, by this time of year I would have pulled out my fly boxes to see if I need to tie more flies for September fishing. These are my provider boxes. My fly boxes seem to…

I ventured back to the vise last week to complete a few fly orders. I’m still recovering from Covid. It’s been 3 weeks now and I feel like I finally turned the corner. But it’s a slow process. The first flies off the vise were an Elk Hair Caddis Variant for a customer in size…

After our time fly fishing the Yellowstone River, we headed to the NW corner of Yellowstone National Park to view for ourselves the impacts from last year’s 500 year flood. Our hope was to fish the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek and continue over the Beartooth Pass for a quick stop fly fishing the…

The next stop on this year’s road trip is fly fishing the Yellowstone River in July 2023. We left the Madison River Valley after spending two weeks fishing for and catching beautiful Brown and Rainbow Trout. I’ll provide links to both posts at the bottom in case you missed them. I went back to my…

We just completed our second week fly fishing the Madison River in July 2023. I hope you were able to see my post about our first week. If not, you can find it HERE. We had a terrific time, but all good things must come to an end. The next stop on this year’s fly…

The next stop on our fly fishing road trip is fly fishing the Madison River in July 2023. We’ve fished the Madison a little over a week now. It’s a favorite river of ours and you’ll see why below! We arrived on the Madison River on the evening of July 7 after spending a few…

This week’s post is about our 2023 fly fishing the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River.

Eddies are one of my favorite places to fish. I’ve caught some nice fish in eddies. It would be difficult to determine what my favorite water to fish is, whether it’s eddies, runs, boulders, or tail outs. I think the answer is WATER. But I always fish an eddy. The image above is a small…

It won’t be long and we’ll be on our 2023 fly fishing road trip. I’ve been looking forward to it. I’m checking fly boxes for our Montana fly fishing trip and pulled out the provider boxes to make sure we had enough flies for the expected hatches on the waters we fish. Sure, we have…

Here are this week’s images from the water. While waiting for fish to rise, I have plenty of time to look around and find subjects to capture. I hope you enjoy the images below. I love to capture Mayfly spinners with my camera. If you are observant, you might find them on the streamside vegetation….

Our next fly fishing road trip is only a few weeks away and I need to begin getting our road trip flies ready for a several weeks of fishing. I’ve had a few RiverKeeper Flies regulars ask when we plan to leave on our next fly fishing road trip and whether we will return and…

Last week, I was fly fishing the Lower Deschutes River with my friend Eric. This has been mostly an annual event for the several years and it’s something I look forward to. The image above is Eric’s reaction when the fish decided he’d had enough pictures! We launch at the Warm Springs boat ramp and…

I was having an email conversation recently with a friend of mine where he asked do larger fish key on Mayfly cripple fly patterns or standard dry flies. It got me thinking about the flies I use to imitate these insects during a Mayfly hatch. Here is a part of our discussion… “What is your…

It’s really been hit or miss on the river as of late. The warm weather has played havoc with the river levels, producing daily changes of 100 to 200 cubic feet per second (cfs). Much of the time, I expect the river to be between 1300 and 1400 cfs, but it’s been bouncing in the…

We fish a lot. And we’ve fished for a lot of years. In that time, we have used several nets. Why a post about nets? One word…memories. If nets could talk, what would yours say? From left to right: Dancingtrout lake net, Steve Stevens, Lyle Hand bamboo handle, Brodin, Snake River Net Co, Fisknat The…

I started writing today’s post on May 1. Can you believe it’s May already? Perhaps it’s one of your favorite months as Salmonflies and Golden Stones are right around the corner. Are you ready for one of the best hatches of the year? Before I get too far, I’d like to quickly bring up a…

Last weekend, I was participated in the 2023 Casting for Recovery Oregon North retreat at Lake Creek Lodge, in Camp Sherman, OR. While I’ve been a River Helper in previous years, 15 happened to arrive, so I volunteered to be the photographer for the day. If you’d like to support another retreat similar to this,…

Opening day. It used to be a long-awaited day which meant I could go trout fishing again. I was lucky to live within driving distance to rivers emptying into the Pacific Ocean with runs of salmon and steelhead. I fished for them during the winter months, but opening day of trout season was a red-letter…

How long has it been since you’ve been fishing? I thought so…it’s been a while, hasn’t it? But the good news is the weather is bound to change by the end of the month and May will bring some exciting insect hatches! You need to be prepared for that first day on the water. I…

I’ve heard more insects have been hatching on my home waters, but I haven’t experienced it yet. It’s spring after all! I say that as I look outside at a couple inches of new snow. I was out a few days ago, the first time since we returned from Argentina. Yes, that’s a long time…

Another year. My how time flies. That’s right, RiverKeeper Flies quietly celebrated another milestone earlier this month, turning 9 years old! Website RiverKeeper Flies began in early 2014 when I first learned about websites and published my initial post on March 5, 2014. I wasn’t sure where this journey would take me. Initially, I thought…

Today, I’ll share the last few days of our heli fly fishing from Chochoy Mallin Lodge with SET Fly Fishing. I’ll introduce you to the remaining waters we fished; the Buraleo and Trocoman rivers and Trolope Lagoon. In case you missed my earlier posts, here are the links: Buraleo River Welcome to the Buraleo River!…

I hope you read last week’s Fly Fishing in Argentina with SET Fly Fishing post. I tried to capture the uniqueness of our heli fly fishing in Patagonia and more importantly, the people and overall experience. This week, I’ll share fishing Pajarito Springs and Trocoman River with SET Fly Fishing. We fished a diversity of…

We returned recently from fly fishing in Argentina with SET Fly Fishing, after spending 7 nights and 6 days fly fishing on the eastern side of the Andes Mountain range in the Patagonia region. Fishing is still fishing, whether here in North America or in the Patagonia region of Argentina and Chile. Rainbows are still…

We’re heading to Argentina for a week of fly fishing and I wanted to share a few thoughts about how we’re packing for a Patagonia fly fishing trip. First off, it sure is different packing for a trip out of the country when all we can take is one suitcase of fly fishing equipment! I’m…

We are headed to Patagonia soon and I’ve been gathering items to pack for our trip. One item in my bag will be a box of flies. I’ll share a list of flies for Patagonia fly fishing our guides recommended. We’re fortunate that they provide all the flies, but if you’re a fly tier and…

I had a question recently about how to carry extra flies when traveling. It’s a great question and I thought you might like to hear my answer as well. I’ll begin by saying this method works for me, but I’m constantly trying to find the best way to carry the flies we may use on…

First of all, Happy New Year! I hope you find great fishing success in 2023! I finished tying flies for a customer last week and pulled out a few more hooks so I could tie flies for the provider box. It got me thinking about several insect hatches I’m looking forward to this year. Four…

This is one of my final posts for the year and I’d like to share some of my favorite memories from 2022 on RiverKeeper Flies. You might recall I keep track of the flies I tie. This year, the grand total is approaching 2,200 with a couple more days to go until the new year….

This is the time of year you’ll find me with Euro nymph rod in hand, searching for trout in the snow. There aren’t a lot of dry fly fishing opportunities in December. Sure, you might find a short Blue Wing Olive (BWO) or midge hatch, but it usually doesn’t last long. I went to the…

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Beetle Bug Coachman. I was asked by a friend recently to tie up a few of these flies for his local river. It’s an old fly pattern he had seen recently on my RiverKeeper Flies website. Turns out, it was on the cover of this book, John…

I’m still at the fly tying vise this week as I enjoy watching the snow falling or remaining in our backyard from previous storms rolling through. I’ve been tying Royal Wulff flies while waiting for a hook order to arrive so I can complete my last fly order. I looked out on the porch yesterday…

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is John Barr’s Bouface Streamer. This is another fly I found in the book entitled Barr Flies (2007). I’ve been tying Dolly Llama streamers and Barr’s Bouface was very similar to that fly. The Bouface is featured in chapter 19 and includes detailed tying instructions. Originally tied as a…

Welcome to this year’s holiday wish list for fly fishers. I hope you find something useful on the 2022 Fly Fisher’s Christmas list. Many of these items can be purchased at your local fly shop and I encourage you to do so. But if you can’t find the item, here are links to Amazon (affiliate…

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Randall Kaufmann’s Simulator Peacock. I was paging through John Shewey’s Favorite Flies for Oregon (2021) and found Kaufmann’s Simulator. I’ve been a big Randall Kaufmann fan since the 1980’s. His books, Tying Nymphs (1994) and Tying Dry Flies (1991), were the first quality color fly tying instructions in…

The first week of November is over already. Where has the time gone? As I wrote in my Seasons Change post recently, the first of November is a time when I begin to tie more flies as fishing wanes. Yes, I continue to fish during the winter months, but the major dry fly action has…

Tying season has arrived earlier than previous years. As I mentioned in last week’s post, the weather changed, and I’ve found myself at the vise tying Zelon Midges since I featured them in last week’s TBT post. In addition, I’m providing a glimpse of a few items in the Casting for Recovery (CfR) Annual November…

The month of October is a transition for me, as dry fly fishing comes to a close. Sure, you’ll find BWO hatches throughout the winter months, but I spend less time on the water. It’s when seasons change and I transition to fly tying, filling the provider box for next season and participating in Zoom…

I just finished tying a box of 7 dozen flies I’m donating to an upcoming Casting for Recovery (CfR) auction supporting Casting for Recovery. I hope these flies will bring in a few dollars for the Southern Oregon CfR retreat my wife leads. Casting for Recovery (CfR) is a retreat designed to help women in…

I was watching the river last week, waiting for bugs to hatch and fish rise and began thinking about this week’s post. What topic should I write about? I finally noticed a couple of subtle rings from trout sipping insects. I wonder what they were eating? I tied on a dry fly that didn’t work…

If you’ve followed my RiverKeeper Flies posts for a while, you know my fishing partner and I fish a lot. You might interpret today’s title of how to select where to fish as one river over another. Or perhaps it might resonate with you to mean a summer fishing trip to a different state and…

Have you ever waited with anticipation for a hatch to begin and see the first few Mayflies or Salmonflies float down the river without a fish eating it? If I were an aquatic insect, I’d choose to be one of the first bugs to hatch. Why do you ask? Because I’d have a greater likelihood…

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Olive Bloa. I found the fly pattern in Edmunds and Lee Brook and River Trouting (1916) on page 20. Click on the link for a FREE download. It’s one of my favorite classic books for the history of fly tying and fly fishing the old English flies….

I’m always amazed when I return to our home waters, the Metolius River. I love this river! I fished it for the first time in seven weeks when I ventured out last week. We are fortunate to fish many different waters on our fly fishing road trips and catch some amazing fish. But returning to…

I hope you were able to follow us on our three week adventure on the Madison River. If not, I’ll provide links to the posts below. During our time in the Madison Valley, we were able to get an introduction to Hebgen Lake gulpers from our friend Dick Rohrbaugh who lives on the river during…

We’re in our third week of fly fishing the Madison River. If you had asked me a few weeks ago if I thought we would be here this long, my answer would have been no. I’m sure you have experienced the heat wave. Our plan was to head West and fish the Beaverhead, Big Hole,…

We finished our second week fly fishing the Madison River and have noticed changes in the insect activity and our fishing. On our first week, we fished many more caddis imitations. These included an X Caddis, Iris Caddis, and Parachute Caddis. In fact, this 21″ plus Brown Trout ate a size 16 Parachute Caddis as…

The next stop on our fly fishing road trip was fly fishing the Madison River in July 2022. By the time you read this post, we’ve fished the Madison a little over a week. It’s a river we’ve been returning to for many years. Our weather has been interesting. We’ve had several days of afternoon…

We just finished several days of fly fishing the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River. Last year, we arrived to fish the Brown and Green Drake hatches in late June. I’ll provide links to those posts at the bottom of today’s post. Our arrival was a couple weeks later on purpose. We watched the weather…

I hope you get a chuckle from a few RiverKeeper Flies outtakes. How many times have you tried to take a grip and grin picture and the fish explodes at exactly the moment you press the shutter release? This quick release happens more times than I care to admit! I’ve included a few moving water…

I’m getting ready for a fly fishing road trip and am in the process of checking fly lines, leader, and flies to ensure I’m ready. If you are a regular here at RiverKeeper Flies, you know we’ve headed to Montana the last few years about now. We’ll occasionally stop in Idaho on the way and…

It won’t be long before we head East to Montana on this year’s fly fishing road trip. We fish in beautiful places during our road trips, but the last couple of weeks, I’m reminded why I live in Sisters. It turns out we have good dry fly fishing on my local waters, the Metolius River….

Last week found us floating the Deschutes River from Warm Springs to Trout Creek, a very popular drift section. Perhaps you read my post, Water is Life on the Deschutes River a few weeks ago where we fished with Littleleaf Outfitters on the Warm Springs Reservation. Our hope was to fish Salmonfly and Golden Stone…

I’ve had time to think along the river lately while waiting for insects to hatch and fish to rise. I thought I’d share 5 tips to improve your fly fishing success and I’ll offer a few products I use frequently while fishing. Today’s post isn’t only for my readers. I need to heed my own…

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Polly Rosborough’s Fledermouse Nymph. I recently had a customer request several of these flies and thought it would be a good candidate for a TBT post. Here is a close-up of the nymph. Ernest H. “Polly” Rosborough (1902 – 1997) lived in Chiloquin, Oregon and his home river…

This week’s post includes some images from the river. While we’ve picked up a few fish here and there, the colder temperatures seem to have impacted the hatches and fish eating habits. So I seem to be paying much more attention to my surroundings when I don’t see any rising fish. On the other hand,…

Last week found us fly fishing the Salmonfly and Golden Stone hatch with Littleleaf Guide Service. Spending the day with Alysia Littleleaf, we learned how water is life on the Deschutes River. We met Elke & Alysia Littleleaf at Indian Head Casino on the Warm Springs Reservation just a stone’s throw from the Deschutes River….

Last weekend, I had the pleasure to be a River Helper at the 2022 Casting for Recovery Oregon South Retreat. Casting for Recovery (CfR) is a retreat designed to help women in various stages of breast cancer enrich their lives through fly fishing. It was the first retreat after a 2-year break due to wildfires…

I was invited to speak about my home waters, the Metolius River on the Destination Angler podcast hosted by Steve Haigh recently. I thought I should create a post here on RiverKeeper Flies to share much of the information, especially my favorite images of the river, the fish, the bugs, and the flies. I’ll even…

This week’s Throw Back Thursday post is a Richard Wheatley Silver Seal Fly Box. This box is filled with 55 steelhead flies donated to Southern Oregon Casting for Recovery several years ago. I don’t know who tied these flies. When I first started fly fishing, I saw a Wheatley fly box and dreamt of the…

We’re back home after spending almost two weeks in Montana and fishing the Bitterroot River Skwala hatch for six of those days. We did find a few naturals along the riverbanks, but spring weather was out in force. “Spring weather” means temperatures up to seventy degrees and below freezing. Remember the image of snow on…

We’re in the Montana this week, searching for Skwala stoneflies on the Bitterroot River. I’d read the fishing report from the Grizzly Hackle Fly Shop in Missoula that the Skwala stoneflies were hatching along with a few BWO’s and March Brown mayflies. In fact, the report stated the fishing was 4 out of 5! The…

I thought I’d share a few more flies from the vise this week. I finished another fly order for a customer planning to fish the upcoming Salmonfly and Golden Stone hatch. They’ll begin showing themselves in late April and early May. In addition, you’ll find a link below to my recent YouTube videos. This pile…

I was asked recently to make a presentation to a fly club about selecting flies from a fly tyer’s perspective. It’s a great topic for new fly fishers who might be overwhelmed walking into a fly shop and picking a few flies for their next fly fishing adventure. Here are some highlights from my presentation….

And suddenly, here I am, 8 years later, after writing 827 posts, around 300 fly patterns, and over 3,700 images. Little did I know then I would keep writing a post on my blog every week for 8 years without missing one week! I hope you will allow a little departure from my normal weekly…

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Atherton No. 6 dry fly. John Atherton (1900 – 1952) was an artist by trade and incorporated his impressionistic art into the flies he tied. Interestingly, he didn’t name the flies, choosing instead to number his dry flies from 1 to 7, representing lighter to darker shades…

I wanted to share a recent experience on my home waters, fishing the Metolius. My preferred style of fishing is casting a dry fly to rising fish, but if I want to increase my odds of catching a fish, I would have a better chance fishing with nymphs during winter months. Read on and I’ll…

I can’t believe another year has passed already! As I reminisce, here are some accomplishments and favorite memories from 2021 on RiverKeeper Flies. You might recall I keep track of the flies I tie. This year, the grand total is approaching 2,200 with a couple more days to go until the new year. The total…

I fished my favorite river late last week. You’ll be surprised to know I did a little early winter Euro nymph fly fishing. It’s the first time the rod’s been out in several months. If you are a regular RiverKeeper Flies reader, you know how much I enjoy dry fly fishing. I love watching a…

In this week’s post, I’m sharing a fishing experience from this summer’s fly fishing road trip. I just finished editing the latest video on my RiverKeeper Flies YouTube channel called Sight Fishing to Rising Fish on the Madison River. If you are a regular here at RiverKeeper Flies, you know how much we enjoy fishing…

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Charles Brooks Emerger Ida May. Some days I have difficulties deciding which fly to feature for a TBT fly. I walk over to my fly fishing and fly tying library and selected a book or two. I found today’s fly in Brooks’ book entitled The Henry’s Fork…

I’m starting to think about next year’s fishing trips and wondering where to go. I thought you might benefit from my thought process on how to plan a fly fishing trip. This map is one I created back in 2019 to show where we have fished during our Fly Fishing Road Trips. If you’re a…

What brand of leader do you use? There are a lot of good manufacturers to choose from, including Trouthunter, Umpqua, Scientific Anglers, Orvis, and the one I’ve been using for many years – RIO. I recently purchased a different RIO trout leader, the Powerflex Plus to see if I like it. Besides leaders in today’s…

This is the sixth year I’ve prepared a holiday wish list for fly fishers. 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 2021 Fly Fisher’s Christmas list. Many of these items can be purchased at your…

I’ve started putting a little thought behind a new project. I was asked to create a presentation about selecting flies from a fly tyer’s perspective, namely how understanding the parts of a fly will help fly fishers purchase more effective flies at their local fly shop. The challenge will be not to overwhelm them. You…

It’s time for another odds and ends post because I have several topics rattling around in my head. The end of October is a time of transition for me. The dry fly fishing opportunities are fewer every day I’m on the water and I hear the vise calling my name. I hope to catch up…

Having trouble finding fish? Locating the right holding water will increase your success immensely. Here are three tips to increase your fly fishing success. In today’s post, I’ll briefly discuss seams, boulders, and foam. Look for seams Perhaps you’ve heard the term “seams” before, but didn’t know exactly what it meant. A seam is where…

I’ve been fortunate to spend quite a bit of time on my home water, the Metolius. Some days I don’t see an insect on the water. Other days, bugs float downstream on the water’s surface, but no fish rise. What I hope for is finding a few rings or noses, a sign fish are actively…

Our last road trip found us in Hamilton, MT for some fall fly fishing on the Bitterroot River the last week of September. The weather was beautiful, with fall colors beginning to show in the valley. And we had some good fishing as well! The Bitterroot Valley this time of year is spectacular. The fishing…

Last weekend, we participated in the 2021 Cast One for Hope (Cast One) event in Hamilton, MT on the Bitterroot River. It’s one of the major fundraisers of Casting for Recovery (CfR). This year’s event was different due to Covid-19. Normally, there is fly fishing and a banquet where items are auctioned. The event was…

I’ve been filling lots of customer fly orders lately when I’m not fishing my home waters. I’m a custom fly tyer, not a commercial tyer. What’s the difference? To me, a commercial tyer ties dozens and dozens of the same fly pattern, many times in assorted sizes. I would be bored with that. I enjoy…

I feel blessed to live in Central Oregon. Why? Because I live close to my favorite river, the Metolius. I’ve been fortunate to fish this river for almost 50 years. The last couple of weeks, I’ve had opportunities to reflect on the river while waiting for rising trout. I thought I’d share a few stories…

I look forward to the month of September every year because I know I’ll have some great fishing the next two months! In addition, it’s the time of year when several bigger bugs hatch. How about October Caddis or the fall drakes? Fall is a fly fisher’s dream. Below, you’ll find the flies that make…

I’m not a videographer, but I took some footage of our experience fly fishing the Brown Drake hatch I’d like to share with you. It’s my first attempt at creating this type of content and not something I plan to do a lot of. I like to learn new things and creating my Magical Brown…

I’m asked quite often what flies I use and recommend. After 40+ days on our last fly fishing road trip, I thought I’d provide a list of my nine favorite dry flies which were successful for us in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. This is a subject I seem to write about quite often after returning…

Our last week fly fishing Yellowstone Country, we fished a couple of days on the Yellowstone River in the Park, Hebgen Lake, and the Madison River. We left southwest Wyoming looking for dry fly action on the Yellowstone River in Yellowstone National Park. We arrived on July 19, four days after the opener on July…

Fly fishing southwest Wyoming was the next stop on our 2021 fly fishing road trip. How did we get there? Well, we left the Madison River in Montana trying to find clear skies after fishing next to a forest fire at $3 Bridge. Our travels took us past the Henry’s Fork of the Snake where…

I know many of my readers live in the Western United States. Between the warm water temperatures and smoke, you may have changed your fly fishing plans this summer. Last week, we made a few adjustments as well as we dealt with smokey Montana fly fishing. Here is a sunset we normally see at $3…

We returned to Montana for some Madison River June and July fly fishing after spending 9 days on the Henry’s Fork. Our arrival was on June 27th and have been fishing the wade section at $3 Bridge and Lyons Bridge for the last 10 days.  In my post Fly Fishing the Madison River in June…

We’re back on the Madison River after finishing 9 days fly fishing the Henry’s Fork. I hope you read last week’s post about Fly Fishing the Henry’s Fork Brown and Green Drake Hatches. To say we had a great time is an understatement! As I mentioned in last week’s post, we haven’t fished the Henry’s…

We left the Madison River last Thursday because of poor hatches and headed to Last Chance, ID because of a report of Green Drakes hatching on the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River. This week’s post will be about our first impressions fly fishing the Henry’s Fork Brown and Green Drake hatches. It is shorter…

This week’s post is about fly fishing the Madison River in June 2021.

Many times, I look for themes in the images I show in my posts. But I take a lot of pics and they don’t all fit in a weekly post. Today I thought I’d share some of my favorite images from the river in the last month. I hope you enjoy them as much as…

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is a Parachute Adams encore. I call it an encore because I featured this fly back in 2014, the year I started RiverKeeper Flies. I wrote the following back then:

What fly should I use? That was the question I asked myself last week. I bet you ask yourself that question a lot. I arrived at the river and pulled out my backup Winston rod, an 8 1/2 foot 5 weight with my Ross Evolution LTX reel. Nice backup, right?