• 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…

  • 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…

  • Craig Mathews Winter Seminar

    What a great weekend. I had an opportunity to attend the Craig Mathews Winter Seminar sponsored jointly by my own Central Oregon Flyfishers and Sunriver Anglers. I’ve written about Craig Mathews in previous posts (Craig Mathews and Blue Ribbon Flies) and how much I like and fish flies from Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone,…

  • Copper John

    John Barr’s Copper John is this week’s TBT fly. He completed the fly design in 1996 after three years of development. The Copper John is such an effective fly design, John Barr ties it in many colors and variations. The original fly is tied in sizes 10 – 18. But in his book, Barr Flies, he…

  • Crooked River Flies

    A few weeks ago, I highlighted a new page on Crooked River Flies. Well, I’ve had time to add a few fly pattern sheets and thought I’d share them with you. The best way to show my progress is with a picture of my “work in progress” fly box. Here’s what’s in it so far…60…

  • Blue Wing Olives

    It’s the middle of winter and the major hatch on the river these days are Blue Wing Olives.  I get confused what to call these bugs…Blue Wing Olives…Blue Wings… BWOs…Baetis … I’m no expert, but I think they are all the same insect. Or close enough for a fly fisher.

  • Cates Turkey

    Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Since it is Thanksgiving, my wife thought is appropriate this week’s TBT would be the Cates Turkey. I tied one years ago on Thanksgiving. It was developed by Jerry Cate in the 1960’s at Davis Lake for Callibaetis. I think I’ll have to try it next summer! Hope you like it.

  • Serendipity and $3 Dip

    The Serendipity and $3 Dip, originally known as the $3 Bridge Serendipity are effective patterns to have in your fly box. I posted the following picture on my RiverKeeper Flies Facebook recently to share its effectiveness… …and received a comment asking two questions: I thought about it for a few seconds and said “there’s the topic for my next…

  • What Nymphs Should I Use?

    A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog entitled New to Fly Fishing? What Flies Should I Use? It was my way of suggesting a dozen dry flies to start filling your fly box. And for full disclosure, they were a list of DRY flies. Well, someone asked “what about NYMPHS”? Thanks for asking! So I…