I’ve talked recently about how impressive the Callibaetis hatch and fishing has been at East Lake this year. I decided to re-post information about the Callibaetis mayfly life cycle and fly imitations I use to help you lake fly fishers. Callibaetis mayflies are known as the speckled duns because of their mottled wings. Two wonderful sources for more…
I was fishing East Lake with Central Oregon Project Healing Waters (COPHW) last Friday. It was their annual East Lake outing. I’m not a Veteran, but have helped out with COPHW for a few years as a Board member, fly tying instructor, and mentor. I just stepped down from my Board responsibilities. We rounded the…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the LaFontaine Flex Damsel. The LaFontaine Flex Damsel represents the egg-laying phase of the adult. It’s that time of year when we begin to see a few damsel flies emerge. To learn more about these insects, be sure to read my Damsel Flies post. For complete tying instructions…
My fly tying has found me back to steelhead flies. I finished a steelhead fly order last week for 40 flies. I thought I’d share them with you. This project was a little change of pace from the many trout flies I’ve been tying. I’m trying to finish some customer orders between all my fishing…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the LaFontaine Bead Head Marabou Worm. Gary’s original Marabou Worm was presented in his book – Trout Flies Proven Patterns. He received feedback from a few friends who had added a bead head to the fly with increased success. And Gary always wanted to know why? He sent divers…
We fished East Lake last week for the first time this season. I have to say, I think it’s the best early season fly fishing on East Lake we’ve ever had! While not a heavy hatch, the Callibaetis were hatching most of Tuesday & Wednesday. We probably landed between 30 – 40 EACH on Wednesday. Mostly…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Alec Jackson Spade – Purple. I posted two other TBT flies tied by Alec Jackson in recent posts – the Spade and Fancy Spade – Red. This Spade fly appears to be one of his variants in which he used all purple materials. As I wrote in…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Alec Jackson Fancy Spade – Red. I posted another TBT fly recently that Alec Jackson had tied, called the Spade. After a little more research, I believe it is a Fancy Spade tied with natural peacock and black ostrich. This fly appears to use dyed ostrich for…
I had a question recently from a newer fly fisher asking for fly recommendations to fish a specific lake. I hadn’t fished that lake, but it made me think. What are the basic lake flies I always carry? I started my fly fishing journey by fishing rivers. Much later I decided to fish lakes and…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the LaFontaine EZ2C Midge. The LaFontaine EZ2C Midge is a fly found in LaFontaine’s Legacy, a book authored by Al and Gretchen Beatty about 26 fly patterns Gary LaFontaine never finished publishing. This is the fourth in a series of EZ2C flies I’ve presented that were developed by Gary LaFontaine. In their…
