• More Flies From the Vise

    I thought I’d share a few more flies from the vise this week. I finished another fly order for a customer planning to fish the upcoming Salmonfly and Golden Stone hatch. They’ll begin showing themselves in late April and early May. In addition, you’ll find a link below to my recent YouTube videos. This pile…

  • Lord Baltimore

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Lord Baltimore wet fly. This is an old fly pattern listed as No. 64 (page 158) in Mary Orvis Marbury’s Favorite Flies and Their History (1892). Click the link for a free download of the book. The fly can be seen on Plate I, page 183. No….

  • 8 Years

    And suddenly, here I am, 8 years later, after writing 827 posts, around 300 fly patterns, and over 3,700 images. Little did I know then I would keep writing a post on my blog every week for 8 years without missing one week! I hope you will allow a little departure from my normal weekly…

  • Kent’s Pumpkin Head

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is John Kent’s Pumpkin Head. The Pumpkin Head was created by John Kent originally for fishing in Tunkwa Lake in BC, a highly productive but frequently low visibility lake. Kent originally developed the fly as a damsel imitation, but I’ve used it as an attractor pattern when no hatch…

  • No. 8 Water-hen Bloa

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the No. 8 Water-hen Bloa. The Water-hen Bloa can be found in many of the old fly fishing and fly tying books. The first example is from page 24 of Yorkshire Trout Flies by T. E. Pritt (1885) “This fly is identical with the blue dun of Ronalds, and…

  • Atherton No. 6 Dry Fly

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Atherton No. 6 dry fly. John Atherton (1900 – 1952) was an artist by trade and incorporated his impressionistic art into the flies he tied. Interestingly, he didn’t name the flies, choosing instead to number his dry flies from 1 to 7, representing lighter to darker shades…

  • Tying Steelhead Flies

    I finished and mailed a steelhead fly order for a customer in the mid-west about a month ago and thought I’d share his order with you. I enjoy tying steelhead flies, but haven’t tied many the last few years because of the low steelhead runs of the Columbia basin. But these 16 flies were a…

  • Broughton’s Point

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Broughton’s Point. I found this beautiful fly in Brook and River Trouting by Harfield H. Edmonds and Norman N. Lee (1916). It’s listed as fly No. 7 on page 18 – Broughton’s Point or Dark Bloa, with a note on the bottom as a fly to fish in March…