• 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…

  • Comparable Fly Fishing Hooks

    Have you ever had a problem trying to find a comparable fly fishing hook? You’ve used a certain manufacturer for a while, but can’t get that hook now and want a similar model? Or you found a new fly pattern you’d like to tie, but it references a hook you don’t have. That’s one of…

  • McKenzie Caddis Dry Fly

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the McKenzie Caddis dry fly. This odd looking body color matches the real insect found on the McKenzie River in Oregon. I found this fly pattern in the 1980’s when I tied a few of these flies for the first time. These caddis flies begin hatching in mid-May and…