• Flies Coming Off My Vise

    This week’s post will highlight a few flies coming off my vise AND include a comment about how to fish them. I hope it will help you determine what flies to include in your fly box when we can start fishing again. I recognize not all readers of my RiverKeeper Flies weekly posts tie flies….

  • Norm Wood Special TBT

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Norm Wood Special TBT. I’ve fished the Norm Wood Special off and on for many years on the Lower Deschutes River, OR. It’s an effective fly for the Golden Stone hatch. For some reason, it’s always intrigued me, perhaps because of the “odd” color wing, a tangerine…

  • Fly Tying in Kauai

    I’ve been in Kauai a couple of weeks and have taken the opportunity to tie a few flies during the rainy and windy days. Fly tying in Kauai isn’t the first time I’ve tied flies in paradise. What was so unique this year were all the chickens running around our condo and the beach! It…

  • BWO Fly Box

    In mid-December, I wrote a post about Choosing a Fly Box. I still need to fill a fly box with BWO flies, so it’s timely for me to highlight a few important flies I plan to place in the fly box. I’ll provide some of my favorites to help you create your own BWO fly…

  • Sparkle Dun Deer Hair

    I wanted to highlight one of the Sparkle Dun deer hair patches I’ve been using. In the last week, I tied 6 dozen Green Drake Sparkle Duns and it reminded me how important finding and using the right deer hair is to successfully tie these flies. Half of the flies were for a customer and…

  • Start of Winter Fly Fishing

    I finally got back to the river last week. This year’s November weather was a little different than usual. We were able to fish a good week and a half into November. I’ve said in past years the dry fly fishing usually stops around November 1. It’s like someone throws a switch and the fishing…

  • Jacklin’s Salmonfly

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is a Bob Jacklin’s Salmonfly. A friend of mine loaned me this fly and told me Bob actually tied the fly. I was grateful to be able to feature one of Bob’s flies as a TBT. Jacklin is a fixture in West Yellowstone, having arrived in 1967. Bob worked…

  • Stranahan’s Brindle Chute

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Chuck Stranahan’s Brindle Chute. We stopped at Chuck Stranahan’s Flies & Guides during our last trip to Montana. Our reason for being there was to participate in Cast One for Hope, a celebration and major fundraiser of Casting for Recovery. The Brindle Chute was one of the flies Chuck picked…