We got up yesterday, packed the last few items and now we’re on the road to Montana. I’m a “just in time” fly tyer on occasion, and yesterday was no exception. I took the wheel for the first three hours or driving and got into the passenger seat. What to do? You guessed it…tie a…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Wilson Ant. I haven’t tied a Ray Bergman fly recently, so I thought I’d pull out his book Trout (1938) and the Wilson Ant spoke to me. You’ll find this fly on Plate No. 9, page 254. I like the elegance and simplicity of a Ray Bergman wet fly. I’ve…
In a week, I’ll be headed out on another Montana fly fishing road trip. I live in a beautiful place called Central Oregon, but there’s something about Big Sky country that makes me want to return. One of our destinations in Montana will be the International Federation of Fly Fisher’s Fair in Livingston. My wife…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Steelhead Caddis. The Steelhead Caddis was created by Bill McMillan in 1975 as a low-water variation of the Muddler Minnow. This fly is fished dry on the surface with a trailing wake, making a commotion to get the steelhead’s attention. Use a riffling hitch or cast the fly…
Last week I helped my wife lead what I’m calling the Next Cast Flyfishers master class outing at East Lake. Six flyfishers between ages 11 and 15 were invited to attend the outing, the first of it’s kind for our club. These kids have participated in numerous Next Cast activities, including multiple Fish Camps, river clean-ups,…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Girdle Bug. Frank McGinnis of Anaconda, Montana is credited with developing the Girdle Bug, sometimes call a McGinnis Rubberlegs. The fly was first fished on the Big Hole River in the 1930’s and 1940’s. You might recognize this fly if it used a variegated chenille body and…
I’ve been tying Schroeder’s Parachute Hoppers for an order and decided I needed a few as well. While I tied 2 dozen flies, it got me thinking about fishing terrestrial fly patterns and my three favorite terrestrial fly patterns I wouldn’t be without. Here they are – Schroeder’s Parachute Hopper, Harrop’s CDC Ant and of…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Black Gnat dry fly. I had an earlier Black Gnat wet fly as a TBT fly, but Dancing Trout found this fly along the river and it’s been in her fly fishing pack for a while. It looked like a good candidate for today’s TBT post. To…
I bit the bullet and started tying and fishing the Davy Knot recently and wanted to provide a review of my experience with this knot. If you’re a regular reader of RiverKeeper Flies, you might have seen a recent post about Testing Fly Fishing Knots. The main subject was how I’m preparing to teach Making Effective…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Mottled May, a fly developed by Charles DeFeo. I found this fly pattern in Forgotten Flies by Paul Schmookler & Ingrid Sils. This is a spectacular book and includes flies from Ray Bergman, Preston Jennings, Mary Orvis Marbury, and Carrie Stevens. I used Forgotten Flies as a reference for…
