• Manage Two Nymph Rigs

    Have you ever wondered if there’s a better method to manage two nymph rigs?  If you follow my blog, you know I love to fish dry flies. I walk along the river searching for fish rising.  When I do fish nymphs, I usually fish two nymphs. Most of the time I tie on about 18″…

  • Orange Comet

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Orange Comet, a steelhead and salmon fly. I’m heading out salmon fishing and decided to tie up a few Comets and found reports that the Chartreuse Comet is a great tide water fly pattern. I’ve read where the Orange Comet works well in clear water and the…

  • Fall Colors

    Fall is definitely in the air and the river is showing it’s colors the last few weeks. And fall colors are always spectacular. Whether it’s fishing for steelhead… …or along my home river. It’s a great time of year to stop and appreciate the view as you’re waiting for a hatch to begin and fish rise. And…

  • LaFontaine Diving Caddis

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the LaFontaine Diving Caddis. If you’re a frequent visitor to RiverKeeper Flies, you might recognize a theme of several LaFontaine Caddisflies, including the LaFontaine Deep Sparkle Pupa and the LaFontaine Emergent Pupa. Brown & Green Diving Caddis In the past week or so, we’ve been fishing later and…

  • October Fly Box

    Here are the flies I’m carrying in my October fly box. I’ll begin with the October Caddis just because of it’s name. These are big bugs, sizes 8 – 10. You’ll see October Caddis flitting over the water laying eggs. I usually blind cast an imitation because fish don’t take them like a normal “hatch”….

  • Max Canyon

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Max Canyon steelhead fly. It was developed by Doug Stewart in the early 1970’s. Our fly club has an outing in Max Canyon on the Deschutes River next week to fish for steelhead and I thought it timely to highlight this fly. You may have seen it spelled differently…Macks…

  • Copper John Rainbows

    I’m finishing up a custom fly order which includes a few Copper Johns. Since I had all the materials out, why not tie up a few Copper Johns in different colors for me? I’m calling these my Copper John Rainbows. The Copper John is the creation of John Barr. He started to create the fly…

  • Quill Gordon

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Quill Gordon. I think there’s something elegant about Catskill style flies. And the Quill Gordon is one of the originals. It was created by Theodore Gordon before 1906. Gordon was born in Pennsylvania in 1854 and is recognized as the father of dry fly fishing in America….

  • Splashy Rises

    I love to see fish rise. That’s why I fish dry flies. Splashy rises are my favorite. It’s the type of rise form which tells me the fish are exploding at the surface with reckless abandon. I like those two words…reckless abandon. These takes may be the most memorable. Makes me smile just thinking about it….

  • LaFontaine Emergent Pupa

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the LaFontaine Emergent Pupa. Anyone see any continuity from last week? Just checking… The LaFontaine Emergent Pupa is the final phase of a caddis as it climbs out of its pupal shuck and makes its way to the surface to finally fly away from the water. The earlier stage…