• 2021 Cast One for Hope

    Last weekend, we participated in the 2021 Cast One for Hope (Cast One) event in Hamilton, MT on the Bitterroot River. It’s one of the major fundraisers of Casting for Recovery (CfR). This year’s event was different due to Covid-19. Normally, there is fly fishing and a banquet where items are auctioned. The event was…

  • Bergman’s Sanctuary

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Ray Bergman’s Sanctuary. It’s been a while since I featured a classic Ray Bergman fly. The Sanctuary is a very simple soft hackle fly that is listed on Plate No. 8, page 222 of Bergman’s Trout (1940 – fourth printing) As I’ve mentioned many times, I enjoy highlighting a…

  • Dette Caddis

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Dette Caddis. The Dette Caddis is another fly I found in Eric Leiser’s book about Walt and Winnie Dette and their daughter Mary Dette Clark and their impact on classic Catskill flies. The book is entitled The Dettes – A Catskill Legend (1992). On the instruction page about how to…

  • Cascades Stone

    I wrote about the Cascades Stone a few years ago, but have seen them on the river recently and thought it was time to highlight this seldom seen hatch by fly fishers. It’s actually called the Doroneuria baumanni, a cousin of the Golden Stone. But I’m getting ahead of myself. When we first noticed this…

  • Improved Governor

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Improved Governor. This is another steelhead fly found in John Shewey’s Classis Steelhead Flies book. It’s one of my sources of flies for TBT posts. I’ve read recently about the low steelhead returns in the Columbia Basin and it got me thinking about the last time I…

  • September Fly Box

    I look forward to the month of September every year because I know I’ll have some great fishing the next two months! In addition, it’s the time of year when several bigger bugs hatch. How about October Caddis or the fall drakes? Fall is a fly fisher’s dream. Below, you’ll find the flies that make…

  • Harrop’s CDC Rusty Paraspinner

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Harrop’s CDC Rusty Paraspinner. I hope you were able to read a recent post, Importance of Imitating Mayfly Spinners. Since I’ve been thinking about spinners for a few days, I thought I’d find one to feature in a TBT post. Harrop’s CDC Rusty Paraspinner was created by Bonnie…