This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Gartside Sparrow Fly. This is a fly my friend purchased from a fly shop in Big Sky, MT in the 1970’s. He fished the fly on the Gallatin and Madison Rivers, MT. The Sparrow Fly was created by Jack Gartside. I have heard the name Gartside before,…
It won’t be long before fishing season begins for many fly fishers. That’s because March Brown mayflies are coming soon. This is the first of the larger mayflies trout will see in the coming months and an emerger or dry fly is a lot of fun to fish. Western March Brown mayflies (Rhithrogena morrisoni) are in…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday post is about a Herter’s No. 4 Fly Tying Vise. Did any of you begin tying flies with this vise? It’s a vintage fly tying vise from the mid-1950’s that my friend Jim Fisher used growing up in Idaho. It’s one of the items he shared with me during a…
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…
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…
