Spontaneous fly fishing trips can be exciting. That’s what I did last week. We decided on a whim to fly fish the Madison River in early July. I was reading the Blue Ribbon Flies weekly newsletter on Facebook and told my wife how good the fly fishing was supposed to be. We’ve usually made our…
I’ve talked recently about how impressive the Callibaetis hatch and fishing has been at East Lake this year. I decided to re-post information about the Callibaetis mayfly life cycle and fly imitations I use to help you lake fly fishers. Callibaetis mayflies are known as the speckled duns because of their mottled wings. Two wonderful sources for more…
I was fishing East Lake with Central Oregon Project Healing Waters (COPHW) last Friday. It was their annual East Lake outing. I’m not a Veteran, but have helped out with COPHW for a few years as a Board member, fly tying instructor, and mentor. I just stepped down from my Board responsibilities. We rounded the…
Oh what a difference a couple of weeks make! We made our return to East Lake on Sunday with high hopes because of the terrific fishing we experienced a couple weeks ago. You can read about it in my Early Season Fly Fishing on East Lake post. While we did catch a few nice fish,…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the LaFontaine Flex Damsel. The LaFontaine Flex Damsel represents the egg-laying phase of the adult. It’s that time of year when we begin to see a few damsel flies emerge. To learn more about these insects, be sure to read my Damsel Flies post. For complete tying instructions…
We fished East Lake last week for the first time this season. I have to say, I think it’s the best early season fly fishing on East Lake we’ve ever had! While not a heavy hatch, the Callibaetis were hatching most of Tuesday & Wednesday. We probably landed between 30 – 40 EACH on Wednesday. Mostly…
I had a question recently from a newer fly fisher asking for fly recommendations to fish a specific lake. I hadn’t fished that lake, but it made me think. What are the basic lake flies I always carry? I started my fly fishing journey by fishing rivers. Much later I decided to fish lakes and…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the LaFontaine EZ2C Midge. The LaFontaine EZ2C Midge is a fly found in LaFontaine’s Legacy, a book authored by Al and Gretchen Beatty about 26 fly patterns Gary LaFontaine never finished publishing. This is the fourth in a series of EZ2C flies I’ve presented that were developed by Gary LaFontaine. In their…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the LaFontaine EZ2C Mayfly. The LaFontaine EZ2C Mayfly is a fly found in LaFontaine’s Legacy, a book authored by Al and Gretchen Beatty about 26 fly patterns Gary LaFontaine never finished publishing. LaFontaine’s Legacy includes fly pattern descriptions for Blue-Winged Olives, Callibaetis, Gray Drake, Light Cahill, and Pale Morning Dun flies….
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the LaFontaine EZ2C Stonefly. The LaFontaine EZ2C Stonefly is a fly found in LaFontaine’s Legacy, a book authored by Al and Gretchen Beatty about 26 fly patterns Gary LaFontaine never finished publishing. This is an interesting fly pattern in that colored foam is used as an overbody over the dubbed body….
