• Favorite Salmonfly Patterns

    The word on the street this week is Salmonflies are beginning to hatch. While it may be early for your river, these big bugs will be available for several weeks. So I thought I’d provide a few pictures of the real bug and offer some of my favorite Salmonfly patterns I plan to carry in my fly…

  • Select the Right Dry Fly

    How do you select the right dry fly to tie on the end of your leader? Here are a few tips to make the selection process a little easier the next time you’re at the river. Let’s make it simple. You arrive at the river and it’s your lucky day, bugs are hatching. You were…

  • Recent Changes

    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…

  • Fall Fishing

    Yes, fall fishing is here. My wife is still clinging to the notion summer is not over, but the weather and changing leaves tell a different story. And the fishing is different too. Dry fly fishing is back with a vengeance. Gone are the dog days of summer and it’s been replaced with fish rising to strong…

  • Flies from IFFF

    During the IFFF Fair in Bend, Oregon earlier this month, I had a chance to sit down and watch some pretty good fly tyers. I thought I’d share a few flies from the IFFF Fair. Lee Clark has a new version of the Clark’s Golden Stone he calls the Clark’s Lady Stone. The fly is…

  • August Flies

    Well, it’s here…the dog days of summer. You may recall I recently wrote a post called The River Wins. I’ve had some up and down days since writing that. But that’s to be expected this time of year. I haven’t given up. So I thought I’d provide a list of August flies I’ll be fishing. The…

  • Top 10 Dry Flies for July

    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…

  • How Many Fly Patterns

    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…

  • Craig Mathews Winter Seminar

    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,…

  • Stimulator

    It’s Thursday again and this week’s TBT fly is the Stimulator. I first learned of this fly from Randall Kaufmann’s book Tying Dry Flies. Tied many flies from that book. This is an older fly I tied many years ago. I obtained the book in the early 90’s…so old is relative, I guess.