I had a recent fly order for Beetle Bailey flies and decided to keep tying them and fill the provider box. I ended up tying over 11 dozen. Why? Because fishing with beetles can be effective at certain times of the year and I didn’t want to run out of them. In fact, terrestrials can…
I’m beginning preparation for a few upcoming fly fishing road trips. One lesson from prior trips was how effective terrestrial fly patterns helped save our fishing. So I thought I’d share a few of my favorite fly patterns I plan to carry in the next couple of months. As an added bonus, I’ll provide a…
Yesterday, I cleaned up my fly tying bench and sat down for the first time this year to tie a few flies. It’s been about two weeks since I tied a fly. Tonight I’m teaching the first class at Central Oregon Flyfisher’s Winter Fly Tying. In addition, I’m traveling to Boise, ID this week for…
If you’ve been reading the posts from this year’s fly fishing road trip, you might have noticed how many of the fish we caught took ant patterns. In this week’s post, I thought I would highlight my favorite ant fly patterns. I’m always amazed how well ant fly patterns work. I’ve experienced how almost any…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Improved Chaos Hopper TBT. It’s no coincidence I chose the Improved Chaos Hopper for this week’s post. I saw a picture earlier this week of a beautiful Brown Trout posted by Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone. The fish ate a hopper fly pattern!
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…
Wow! The weather has changed dramatically this week. The forecast shows 81 degrees on Thursday. The anticipation of some major hatches is very exciting and I decided I have to get a May fly box ready for the river. This is what I hope to catch. I’ve found the fish to be a little more…
Winter is a great time for restocking and organizing your fly boxes. How many fly boxes do you carry? How do you organize them? It’s been too long and my fly boxes have seen some serious neglect the last few months. I fish over 100 days a year. How many over 100? I used to…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is a Polly Rosborough Grasshopper fly pattern. I found this fly on a display at the International Federation of Fly Fishers Museum in Livingston, MT. It’s is one of several flies in a display entitled Polly’s Proven Killers. I took this picture of Polly’s Grasshopper through the glass display in a dark…
Over the last few weeks, I’ve written about our Montana Road Trip where we fished the Madison, Depuy Spring Creek, Stillwater, and Slough Creek & the Lamar. I thought I’d provide a summary of the effective flies we used in our Montana fly box. When selecting flies, I always try to imitate the insects I think…
