This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the classic Royal Coachman dry fly. This attractor fly pattern is one that many older fly fishers recognize. It truly is a classic! It was one of many flies I found in a friend’s old fly box. There are many variations to the first Royal Coachman, which was…
Last week, I took advantage of the snowy weather which has kept me off the river and and said “yes” to an opportunity. A friend of mine who is a duck hunter gave me a call to see if I wanted any feathers. How could I say no? So this week’s post will be about…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is an old Atlantic Salmon fly, the Blue Charm. It’s a very old fly from the mid-1800s and one of the most famous Simple Strip Winged salmon flies. The fly is attributed to M. Brown. I’ve only tied one other Salmon Fly – the Golden Butterfly. I decided to…
I’m headed back to the vise this week to stock up on trout flies. I finished my last “plate” fly for the season. It was an Atlantic Salmon fly called the Blue Charm, a “Simple Strip Wing”, my contribution for a Central Oregon Fly Tying Guild fly plate. This plate will be at the NW…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Lempke’s Extended Body Green Drake – TBT. Photo: Courtesy of Sandy Pittendrigh (www.fliesfliesflies.com) Cyril ‘Bing’ Lempke (1917 – 1991) was born in St. Cloud, Minnesota, but moved to Idaho as a youngster. He fished the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River and the Teton River during his teens. It was there…
Snow and cold weather have made a big impact on my fishing lately. Perhaps I’m getting older, but as I write this post, it’s 11 degrees and snowing lightly. So I’ve been at the vise tying nymphs to fill up the provider box. Here is my recommendation of a few nymphs for a well stocked…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Braided Butt Damsel. I first found this fly in Randall Kaufmann’s book Tying Dry Flies (1991) in the early 1990s. I tied the fly using the instructions from the book and took it to Antone Ranch in Eastern Oregon when it was a pay-to-play lake. I can still remember…
This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Benn’s Coachman, a fly developed by John Benn (1838 – 1907) in the 1890s. Since I’ve been working with red and white married wings for the Green Butt Skunk Spey, I decided to use a fly from John Shewey’s book Classic Steelhead Flies. Benn’s Coachman seemed appropriate. I wasn’t aware…
I haven’t tied any trout flies in the last week because I’m still working on spey flies. Specifically, the Green Butt Skunk Spey. The two flies on the book Steelhead Flies by John Shewey are the first (left side) and third (right side) I’ve tied. You’ll find this fly on page 193 of John’s book….
I’m a novice at tying spey flies, but I’m intrigued by the final product and it’s an opportunity to learn new fly tying techniques. I’ve written a couple of posts about my experience (Another Spey Fly – Done and Tying Spey Flies – I’m Scared!) and I’ve learned a few “rules” that hopefully help in the…
