• Mother’s Day Caddis

    The Mother’s Day Caddis hatch is well-known and can be amazing to see. And it’s right around the corner. Yes, all those dots in the picture are caddis flying over the water! Thousands and thousands of American Grannom (Brachycentrus occidentalis) hatch at this time of year. These caddis are the ones building square-shaped cases you…

  • Gordon Quill Fly Package

     This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is a Gordon Quill fly package. This is a package of flies a friend recently gave me because he knew of my love for fly fishing and tying history. He told me they were at least 100 years old! Needless to say, I was shocked at his generous gift. Perhaps because…

  • May Fly Box

    Wow! The weather has changed dramatically this week. The forecast shows 81 degrees on Thursday. The anticipation of some major hatches is very exciting and I decided I have to get a May fly box ready for the river. This is what I hope to catch. I’ve found the fish to be a little more…

  • Denny Rickards Seal Bugger

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Denny Rickards Seal Bugger. Denny created this fly in the mid-80’s on Oregon’s Upper Klamath Lake, his home waters. The fly is a variation of the popular Woolly Bugger.  I’d seen this fly years ago, but found it again in Rickards Fly-Fishing Stillwaters for Trophy Trout (1997). It’s the…

  • Spring Fly Fishing

    I can’t lie. I’ve been a little frustrated lately with spring fly fishing. It always happens this time of year for me. Winter is over and I have expectations of going to the river and see a few mayflies hatching. I love mayflies. There is something elegant about that bug. I enjoy watching them float…

  • Mrs. Haase

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Mrs. Haase. The Mrs. Haase is another Ray Bergman wet fly I found in Forgotten Flies by Paul Schmookler & Ingrid V. Sils. It is fly number 284 of 725 flies attributed to Bergman. Wow, that’s a lot of fly patterns! Forgotten Flies is a spectacular book and includes…

  • Odds and Ends

    It’s time again for another odds and ends post at RiverKeeper Flies. Occasionally, I write one of these to catch you up on additions to the website as well as provide a few recent pictures. If you don’t follow me on Facebook – @RiverKeeperFlies – or Instagram – @riverkeeperflies, you’re probably missing out on a few…

  • Clouser Minnow

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Clouser Minnow. This Clouser Minnow is one a friend gave me a couple of years ago. Bob Clouser invented the Clouser Minnow in 1987 to imitate smallmouth bass on the Susquehanna River. My quick research found the fly was named by Lefty Kreh as the Clouser Deep…

  • McKenzie Caddis Wet Fly

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the McKenzie Caddis Wet Fly. This is the companion fly to last week’s TBT fly – the McKenzie Caddis Dry Fly. As I mentioned in last week’s post, I found these fly patterns from the Caddis Fly Shop in Eugene, OR probably in the 1980’s. These caddis flies…