• Fishing Knots

    I don’t know about you, but this is the time of year my days on the water are limited. The limiting factor is ME. Why? Many days the high temperatures hover around freezing! Even though fishing isn’t on the agenda every day, I’m still “fishing”. I have a winter list to check off. Here’s what’s on it:…

  • Darling

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Darling…another fly pattern from Ray Bergman’s book Trout. I looked out the window this morning while tying the Darling and saw this flock of turkeys! Coincidence? The wing is TURKEY! Darling Body: Black dubbing Tip: Orange floss Tail: Golden pheasant crest Hackle: Furnace brown Wing: Brown Turkey Tied…

  • Last Minute Christmas Gifts

    It’s hard to believe Christmas is only a little over 2 weeks away! Since I received good feedback on the original post – Christmas Ideas for Fly Fishers and Fly Tyers, I thought I’d provide some last minute Christmas gifts for the panicked shopper! Remember, I’ll be drawing one name from my Subscriber list next week for their…

  • Testing new hooks

    This week’s post is about my experience testing new hooks from Daiichi as well as highlighting a few fly pattern sheets I’ve recently added to RiverKeeper Flies. Even if you aren’t a fly tyer, be sure to check out the fly pictures to see if it’s something to be added to your fly box. Oh, and…

  • Janssens Damsel Nymph

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Janssens Damsel Nymph. I selected the fly because it incorporated a small piece of turkey in the wingcase…very appropriate for a Thanksgiving Day post! This is the creation of Hal Janssen, another talented California fly fisher. He is a noted writer, artist, lecturer, and video personality. I’ve read that…

  • Tying Flies with Purpose

    In the last week, I’ve been tying flies with purpose. Remember a recent post – Back to Tying Flies? Well that’s what I’ve been doing…tying flies. It’s the time of year when the weather has changed and so has the fishing. In fact, as I write this week’s post, it’s snowing!!! And the forecast calls…

  • Green Ant

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Green Ant. I was doing a little research to determine which flies to tie for a fly plate the Central Oregon Fly Tyer’s Guild is making for the 2016 NW Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo. The plate’s theme is flies for the major steelhead rivers in Oregon….

  • Back to Tying Flies

    The fishing season has definitely changed, but I did get out last week and this rainbow came to hand using an Improved Sparkle Dun, imitating a #16 yellow mayfly…probably a Serratella mayfly rather than the Pale Morning Dun. It has 2 tails vs. 3 tails for the PMD, but do you think fish count tails? Here…

  • Olive Thorax

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Olive Thorax mayfly, tied here in size 18. This fly pattern is one of several I found in Randall Kaufmann’s Tying Dry Flies book that I tied and fished in the 1990’s. The Olive Thorax mayfly imitates a Baetis or Blue Wing Olive. Dry Flies helped introduce me to aquatic…