I returned to the river yesterday looking for rising fish, which didn’t happen. What I found were a variety of bugs floating down the river without fish eating them. Most of them were blue wing olives (BWO), a small mayfly that can hatch almost any month of the year. That got me thinking about my fly…
October fly fishing is a special time of year. It’s the last hurrah for both fly fishers AND fish. I’ve said before that fishing tapers off dramatically around November 1, so that means I have less than one month to get my fix for awhile. So I need to make sure I have the right…
I was thinking the other day about the dry flies I use most of the time and the fact they don’t include parachute flies. Sure, I’ll use parachute flies on some rivers and perhaps tie on a Purple Haze in the evening at the spring creek I fish. And sometimes it works. I gave away a…
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…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Stalcup CDC Loop Wing Emerger. This fly was the creation of Shane Stalcup, a talented and innovative fly tyer. The fly pattern sheet can be found HERE. I first learned of Stalcup’s flies in his book Mayflies “Top to Bottom” (2002). I thought it was interesting looking at the…
Finally the weather has changed and it’s actually November, not October 42, 43, or 44th. October weather continued into early November and I decided it was still October; hence the reasoning for changing my October calendar to include dates of 42, 43, and 44. There was even a smattering of snow last Saturday when I…
Fall is a great time of year to be on your favorite river. That’s where I’ve been lately, walking along the river watching for rising fish. As you know, I enjoy fishing with dry flies. So what have I seen? Tons of mayflies on the river. The weather has been perfect for Pale Morning Duns (PMD)…
Every once in awhile, I create a Recent Changes post to catch you up on what’s been happening behind the scenes at RiverKeeper Flies. And this is the week for it. Did you notice the Youtube video my wife took recently at the Central Oregon Sportsman Show in Redmond, Oregon? She was there with a few…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Olive Thorax mayfly, tied here in size 18. This fly pattern is one of several I found in Randall Kaufmann’s Tying Dry Flies book that I tied and fished in the 1990’s. The Olive Thorax mayfly imitates a Baetis or Blue Wing Olive. Dry Flies helped introduce me to aquatic…
Here are the flies I’m carrying in my October fly box. I’ll begin with the October Caddis just because of it’s name. These are big bugs, sizes 8 – 10. You’ll see October Caddis flitting over the water laying eggs. I usually blind cast an imitation because fish don’t take them like a normal “hatch”….
