• Goddard Caddis

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Goddard Caddis. Originally known as the G & H Sedge, it was created by John Goddard and Clive Henry in England as a stillwater pattern. Goddard gave the pattern to Andre Puyans (a great fly tyer as well from California) in the 1960’s. Puyans in turn shared…

  • My East Lake Fly Box

    Since the Crooked River Flies, Basic Dry Flies, and Basic Nymph Flies Fly Boxes are so popular, I thought I’d add an East Lake Fly Box to my RiverKeeper Flies Fly Patterns page. While my first love is river fishing, I do fish lakes. In fact, friends are surprised when they see me at a lake. I guess my…

  • Quigley Cripple

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Quigley Cripple, developed by Bob Quigley in the late 1970’s for Northern California’s Fall River. Seems like Northern California is the birthplace of several flies I like. Here is my Green Drake Quigley Cripple. As the story goes, Bob was fishing a Humpy and catching fish with…

  • Metallic Caddis

    The Metallic Caddis is this week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly. I found this fly pattern in the mid-90’s from Randall Kaufmann’s Tying Nymphs book. I don’t think I had tied a lot of bead-head nymphs as beads only came to America in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s. Tying Nymphs stated Dennis Black of Umpqua Feather Merchants signed…

  • New Fly Patterns

    Here are a half dozen new fly patterns I learned to tie the last few months during the Winter Fly Tying Classes that look pretty good to me. I’ll give you a caveat…I haven’t fished these, but they sure look fishy and I can’t wait to try them out. Here are a trio of flies Peter Bowers…

  • Madam X

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly pattern is the Madam X, an attractor dry fly. The original fly used a body of deer hair from the butt ends of the tail with thread spiraled through it. Many variations have been created over the years, including the one above using yellow floss. Fish it to imitate…

  • Winter Fly Tying Classes

    Well, I just finished 13 consecutive weeks of managing and coordinating our local fly club’s Winter Fly Tying Classes. While the club was doing this for several years before I joined, I’ve taken over the reigns for the last four years. The rules are pretty simple…be a club member, know the basics of fly tying…

  • How Many Fly Patterns

    I’ve been thinking…how many fly patterns do I really need to successfully fish rivers? Kind of a crazy question coming from a fly tyer, isn’t it? I didn’t say flies…fly patterns. The style of dry flies found in your fly box. Is there a difference? Absolutely! You can never have enough flies!!!

  • NW Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo

    Last weekend, I attended the 2015 NW Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo in Albany, Oregon. I was the Chair for this year’s event, sponsored by the Oregon Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers. I was pleased to meet several of you who are frequent readers of RiverKeeper Flies. Thanks for stopping me to…

  • March Brown Time

    Spring is here. That means it’s March Brown time. I saw a small hatch on the river last week. Here is one of them. I think it’s early, but our weather has been so mild I’m really not surprised. In fact, I was looking for them. I took one of my bug vials filled with Purel…