• Norm Wood Special TBT

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Norm Wood Special TBT. I’ve fished the Norm Wood Special off and on for many years on the Lower Deschutes River, OR. It’s an effective fly for the Golden Stone hatch. For some reason, it’s always intrigued me, perhaps because of the “odd” color wing, a tangerine…

  • Roxey’s Red Squirrel Tail

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Roxey’s Red Squirrel Tail streamer. I was contacted by a customer in early January asking if I would tie a few streamer fly patterns someone in his family had developed many years ago. I like a challenge, so I responded with interest and he provided a couple of…

  • Fly Tying in Kauai

    I’ve been in Kauai a couple of weeks and have taken the opportunity to tie a few flies during the rainy and windy days. Fly tying in Kauai isn’t the first time I’ve tied flies in paradise. What was so unique this year were all the chickens running around our condo and the beach! It…

  • Herter’s Fly Tying Manuals

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday post is about some old Herter’s Fly Tying Manuals. Inside cover I’ve had several Comments about Herter’s since highlighting the Herter’s No. 4 fly tying vise a couple of week’s ago. This should bring back some of the same memories…a couple of Herter’s Fly Tying books from the 1960’s. My…

  • BWO Fly Box

    In mid-December, I wrote a post about Choosing a Fly Box. I still need to fill a fly box with BWO flies, so it’s timely for me to highlight a few important flies I plan to place in the fly box. I’ll provide some of my favorites to help you create your own BWO fly…

  • Perfect Flies

    I got your attention, didn’t I? No, I’m not suggesting I tie perfect flies. I wanted to express how difficult it is to tie perfect flies. To me, the perfect fly is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, tied with proper proportions, and entices a fish to eat it. It might imitate a real insect or…

  • Ray Bergman’s Beauty

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Ray Bergman’s Beauty. This fly was tied by my friend Jim Fisher, the 2011 Stan Walters Memorial Tyer of the Year from the Oregon Council of Fly Fisher’s International. I recently spent a few hours with him for a tutorial on selecting materials and techniques used to tie…

  • Sparkle Dun Deer Hair

    I wanted to highlight one of the Sparkle Dun deer hair patches I’ve been using. In the last week, I tied 6 dozen Green Drake Sparkle Duns and it reminded me how important finding and using the right deer hair is to successfully tie these flies. Half of the flies were for a customer and…

  • Fly Tying Continues

    My fly tying continues this week and includes working to fill an order for a good customer. Here are a few #16 PMD Quigley Film Critic flies off my Renzetti vise. They imitate a PMD hatching out of their nymphal shuck. Notice the body is brown and thorax a PMD yellow. I posted this image…