• Comparadun Mayfly

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Comparadun mayfly. I first tied a Comparadun mayfly in the early 1990’s. The fly was a pattern I found in Randall Kaufmann’s book Tying Dry Flies. Kaufmann presented the Comparadun along with a Sparkle Dun. Al Caucci developed the Comparadun mayfly in the early 1960’s as a…

  • Lempke’s Extended Body Green Drake – TBT

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Lempke’s Extended Body Green Drake – TBT. Photo: Courtesy of Sandy Pittendrigh (www.fliesfliesflies.com) Cyril ‘Bing’ Lempke (1917 – 1991) was born in St. Cloud, Minnesota, but moved to Idaho as a youngster. He fished the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River and the Teton River during his teens. It was there…

  • Small Flies

    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…

  • Red Quill

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Red Quill, a classic Catskill fly pattern. Art Flick was instrumental in popularizing this fly. The Red Quill imitates the Ephemerella Subvaria and uses a large stripped hackle from the Rhode Island Red rooster. An earlier version from Rube Cross utilized slate wings instead of wood duck fibers….

  • Mayflies on the River

    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)…

  • Pink Lady

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Pink Lady, a classic Catskill fly. This Pink Lady was tied by Bob Kern at the International Federation of Fly Fishers Fair in Livingston, MT in August 2016. Bob did an amazing job of mounting the wings, utilizing the double-slip quill wing style. He drove all the way to…

  • Wonder Wing Drake

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Wonder Wing Drake. Al and Gretchen Beatty graciously provided the information below from their new eBook entitled Wonder Wing Flies. While they didn’t invent the Wonder Wing, they have refined the technique used to drastically remove the possibility of the fly twisting while being cast due to…

  • Fishing East Lake in the Fall

    I love to fish in the fall and every other season for that matter. But during the fall, there are so many choices of where to fish. Yesterday, I was fishing my favorite river. Today? We decided it was time to try fishing East Lake in the fall. We fished East Lake several times this…

  • Tying Small Flies

    I’ve been tying small flies recently in my attempt to catch very picky, selective trout. You can read more about my dilemma in the post – What are the Fish Eating? I enjoy a challenge and these particular fish continue to test my patience. I’ve used almost every fly in my fly boxes and none…