• In-The-Film CDC Midge Emerger

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the In-The-Film CDC Midge Emerger. I found this fly recently while reviewing Ed Engle’s Tying Small Flies book. I tied up four size 22 In-The-Film CDC Midge Emergers and placed them on a dime to show how small they are. I met Ed through a friend while fishing…

  • Hoffman Super Capes

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday post is about Hoffman Super Capes. The image above is of two grade 1 Hoffman Super Capes from many years ago. For perspective, I placed them beside a Whiting bronze grade cape I purchased last week. The Hoffman Super Capes are grizzly dyed brown and black. The cape on the…

  • Pray’s Silver Demon

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Pray’s Silver Demon steelhead fly. C. Jim Pray (1885 – 1952) of Eureka, CA is known for starting fly fishing for salmon and steelhead on the heavy winter waters of the Eel River and other Northern California rivers. Joseph Bates, Jr in his Streamers & Bucktails The Big…

  • Silvius Gold Comet

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Silvius Gold Comet. This is a fly a friend of mine had in his collection. His notes state it was tied by Lloyd Silvius of Eureka, CA in 1970. While living in Eureka for many years, Silvius (1902 – 1973) was a baker, worked for Chicago Bridge…

  • Driscoll Midge TBT

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Driscoll Midge TBT. It happens that we were driving through West Yellowstone, MT yesterday and I stopped at Blue Ribbon Flies. I remembered one of my RiverKeeper Flies followers suggested I use the Driscoll Midge as a Throw Back Thursday Fly. I had planned to tie one,…

  • McMurray Ant

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the McMurray Ant. Ed Sutryn invented the McMurray Ant in the early 1960’s while fishing on a stream in McMurray, Pennsylvania. He watched trout crazily feeding on ants. Sometime later, he found out they were timber ants and set about designing a fly using monofilament, cork, and black…

  • Grey Ugly

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Grey Ugly. Recently, a potential customer contacted me to see if I would tie some Grey Ugly flies for him. I had never heard of this fly and did a quick Google search to learn about it. Looking at an image of the fly, I thought it…