Pale Morning Duns (PMD) are the major hatch I’m fishing lately. The Green Drakes are done, so PMDs are what I’m looking for. This is a picture I took of the real Pale Morning Dun. The distinguishing features of a PMD are 3 tails and light gray wings with a leading edge of yellow stain. The body…
The Green Drakes are winding down, so I decided I better begin thinking about what fly patterns I’ll be fishing soon and make sure the fly boxes are stocked. What better way than to come up with a list of the Top 10 Dry Flies for July? The list I compiled could be used on…
We’ve been fishing the river quite a bit lately and have noticed LOTS of spinners on the water. My wife, the Bug Lady, searches back eddies for bugs while waiting for the hatch to happen. Green Drake Spinner What is a spinner you ask? Well, spinners are the final phase of a mayfly’s life, be…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is a Fan Wing Green Drake. I chose this week’s fly in hopes the Green Drake hatch on the Metolius will start soon. I’ve seen a handful, but not enough for the fish to take notice. If this fly has a different well-known name, I don’t know it. And…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Quigley Cripple, developed by Bob Quigley in the late 1970’s for Northern California’s Fall River. Seems like Northern California is the birthplace of several flies I like. Here is my Green Drake Quigley Cripple. As the story goes, Bob was fishing a Humpy and catching fish with…
I’ve been thinking…how many fly patterns do I really need to successfully fish rivers? Kind of a crazy question coming from a fly tyer, isn’t it? I didn’t say flies…fly patterns. The style of dry flies found in your fly box. Is there a difference? Absolutely! You can never have enough flies!!! But think about…
Spring is here. That means it’s March Brown time. I saw a small hatch on the river last week. Here is one of them. I think it’s early, but our weather has been so mild I’m really not surprised. In fact, I was looking for them. I took one of my bug vials filled with Purel…
What a great weekend. I had an opportunity to attend the Craig Mathews Winter Seminar sponsored jointly by my own Central Oregon Flyfishers and Sunriver Anglers. I’ve written about Craig Mathews in previous posts (Craig Mathews and Blue Ribbon Flies) and how much I like and fish flies from Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone,…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday fly is the RS2, developed by Rim Chung. This is a recent tie, following the original pattern sheet. I’ve used natural beaver dubbing and webbing from a dun colored hackle for the wing. The first time I tied this fly was in the 1990’s and for some reason thought it…
A few weeks ago, I highlighted a new page on Crooked River Flies. Well, I’ve had time to add a few fly pattern sheets and thought I’d share them with you. The best way to show my progress is with a picture of my “work in progress” fly box. Here’s what’s in it so far…60…
