This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the LaFontaine Diving Blue-Winged Olive Egg Layer. A friend of mine recently gave me this fly purportedly tied by Gary LaFontaine himself and I thought it would be a great candidate for a TBT fly. To be honest, I didn’t really know much about the diving activity of…
The word on the street this week is Salmonflies are beginning to hatch. While it may be early for your river, these big bugs will be available for several weeks. So I thought I’d provide a few pictures of the real bug and offer some of my favorite Salmonfly patterns I plan to carry in my fly…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Jungle Dragon steelhead fly. For my birthday, I received a copy of John Shewey’s book entitled Classic Steelhead Flies and paging through the book, the Jungle Dragon spoke to me. I’ve never heard of this steelhead fly. It was created by William Hosie in the 1950s, a Washington Fly…
I’ve had time for a little zen fly fishing lately. The weather has been beautiful, but the bugs aren’t showing up…hence the fish aren’t rising. Well, that gives me time to think about the types of dry flies I use and effective dry fly patterns for fast water. A week or so ago, I wrote…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Chantry, another wet fly from the Ray Bergman collection in Trout. I found the Chantry on Plate 2, page 39. For more information about Ray Bergman’s Trout, check out a previous Throw Back Thursday Fly, the Bostwick. The Chantry Body: Peacock Herl Tip: Gold Tinsel Hackle: Black Wing: Darik…
I can’t believe the beautiful weather we’ve had the last couple of weeks. The types of bugs hatching along the river are definitely changing and I decided it’s time to get my April fly box in order. Gone are the days of concentrating on midge and Blue Wing Olive patterns in sizes 18 – 22…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Hatchmaster, a fly pattern developed in the 1930s. Originally known as the Two-Feather Fly, it was created by Harry Darbee for a fisherman named Terrell Moore to solve a problem of getting large mayflies to land on the water softly and eliminate the bulk and weight. Some…
This week’s post is about the odds and ends that are happening as I look forward to the upcoming Spring fishing season. I think I’m going through a little “free fall” this week. Ever hear the term? It’s what happens after you’ve been working at a high level for some time and then everything just ends,…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Babcock, another fly from Ray Bergman’s book entitled Trout. I tied this fly a couple of week’s ago at the Central Oregon Fly Tyer’s Guild. My friend Jim Fisher, the 2011 Stan Walters Memorial Tyer of the Year, taught a class on mounting duck quill wings in the wet…
How do you select the right dry fly to tie on the end of your leader? Here are a few tips to make the selection process a little easier the next time you’re at the river. Let’s make it simple. You arrive at the river and it’s your lucky day, bugs are hatching. You were…
