The next stop on our Montana Road Trip – Stillwater River. I’ve never fished the Stillwater River. Always heard good things about it and I put it on my list to check out during a future Montana road trip. Well, this year it fit perfectly with our plans as we were in Livingston at the…
The next stop on our Montana Road Trip – DePuy Spring Creek. We decided to reserve three rods for the whole day (6:30 am till dark) on August 1, the day after arriving in Livingston, MT. Our friend Eric joined us. I was really looking forward to fishing DePuy Spring Creek. The creek is almost three…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Swannundaze Midge. The fly was developed by Boyd Aigner of Seattle Washington in the 1980’s. The Swannundaze Midge is one I tied many years ago that I found in Randall Kaufmann’s Tying Nymphs book. Tying Nymphs and Tying Dry Flies were two important books for me and I tied many…
Here is a quick update I’m calling my Montana road trip – Madison River. I love visiting the Madison River valley. This picture is the sunset on our first night after a great thunderstorm that skirted us while we were fishing below Raynold’s Pass Bridge. We decided to go to one of our favorite spots…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Timberline Emerger TBT. The Timberline Emerger is one of Randall Kaufmann’s flies I read about and tied many years ago. It’s another great pattern from his Tying Nymphs book, published in 1994. Kaufmann’s book was one of the first color fly tying books I ever owned, along with it’s…
We got up yesterday, packed the last few items and now we’re on the road to Montana. I’m a “just in time” fly tyer on occasion, and yesterday was no exception. I took the wheel for the first three hours or driving and got into the passenger seat. What to do? You guessed it…tie a…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Wilson Ant. I haven’t tied a Ray Bergman fly recently, so I thought I’d pull out his book Trout (1938) and the Wilson Ant spoke to me. You’ll find this fly on Plate No. 9, page 254. I like the elegance and simplicity of a Ray Bergman wet fly. I’ve…
In a week, I’ll be headed out on another Montana fly fishing road trip. I live in a beautiful place called Central Oregon, but there’s something about Big Sky country that makes me want to return. One of our destinations in Montana will be the International Federation of Fly Fisher’s Fair in Livingston. My wife…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Steelhead Caddis. The Steelhead Caddis was created by Bill McMillan in 1975 as a low-water variation of the Muddler Minnow. This fly is fished dry on the surface with a trailing wake, making a commotion to get the steelhead’s attention. Use a riffling hitch or cast the fly…
Last week I helped my wife lead what I’m calling the Next Cast Flyfishers master class outing at East Lake. Six flyfishers between ages 11 and 15 were invited to attend the outing, the first of it’s kind for our club. These kids have participated in numerous Next Cast activities, including multiple Fish Camps, river clean-ups,…
