This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Denny Rickards Seal Bugger. Denny created this fly in the mid-80’s on Oregon’s Upper Klamath Lake, his home waters. The fly is a variation of the popular Woolly Bugger. I’d seen this fly years ago, but found it again in Rickards Fly-Fishing Stillwaters for Trophy Trout (1997). It’s the…
I can’t lie. I’ve been a little frustrated lately with spring fly fishing. It always happens this time of year for me. Winter is over and I have expectations of going to the river and see a few mayflies hatching. I love mayflies. There is something elegant about that bug. I enjoy watching them float…
It’s time again for another odds and ends post at RiverKeeper Flies. Occasionally, I write one of these to catch you up on additions to the website as well as provide a few recent pictures. If you don’t follow me on Facebook – @RiverKeeperFlies – or Instagram – @riverkeeperflies, you’re probably missing out on a few…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Clouser Minnow. This Clouser Minnow is one a friend gave me a couple of years ago. Bob Clouser invented the Clouser Minnow in 1987 to imitate smallmouth bass on the Susquehanna River. My quick research found the fly was named by Lefty Kreh as the Clouser Deep…
Last week, my wife and I helped with planting Spring Chinook fry in Whychus Creek. It was the last batch of salmon scheduled to be planted in the Deschutes basin during 2017. This was a special day for us because these Spring Chinook fry were planted above the town of Sisters, OR, where we live….
Have you ever had a problem trying to find a comparable fly fishing hook? You’ve used a certain manufacturer for a while, but can’t get that hook now and want a similar model? Or you found a new fly pattern you’d like to tie, but it references a hook you don’t have. That’s one of…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the McKenzie Caddis dry fly. This odd looking body color matches the real insect found on the McKenzie River in Oregon. I found this fly pattern in the 1980’s when I tied a few of these flies for the first time. These caddis flies begin hatching in mid-May and…
I’ve had an opportunity in the last month to help with two volunteer activities by planting Spring Chinook in the Deschutes basin. It started with planting several thousand Spring Chinook fry. My wife and I were part of a group planting small fry in Lake Creek, a tributary of the Metolius, while others planted them…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Griffith’s Gnat Emerger fly. This is another great fly pattern from Craig Mathews at Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone, MT. He created a variant of the Griffith’s Gnat with his Zelon Midge and the result was the Griffith’s Gnat Emerger fly. If you are a frequent RiverKeeper Flies reader, you…
Do you know the names of all the bugs you see on the river or lake? Do you need to know these names to catch fish? Not at all. Fly fishers have developed their own common names over the years for many bugs in order to share information about recent fishing trips. I have to…
