Madison River - Relaxed Fishing | www.johnkreft.com

Montana Fly Box

Over the last few weeks, I’ve written about our Montana Road Trip where we fished the Madison, Depuy Spring Creek, Stillwater, and Slough Creek & the Lamar. I thought I’d provide a summary of the effective flies we used in our Montana fly box. When selecting flies, I always try to imitate the insects I think…

Girdle Bug | www.johnkreft.com

Girdle Bug

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Girdle Bug. Frank McGinnis of Anaconda, Montana is credited with developing the Girdle Bug, sometimes call a McGinnis Rubberlegs. The fly was first fished on the Big Hole River in the 1930’s and 1940’s. You might recognize this fly if it used a variegated chenille body and…

Salmonfly adult|www.johnkreft.com

Favorite Salmonfly Patterns

The word on the street this week is Salmonflies are beginning to hatch. While it may be early for your river, these big bugs will be available for several weeks. So I thought I’d provide a few pictures of the real bug and offer some of my favorite Salmonfly patterns I plan to carry in my fly…

Birds Stone Fly | www.johnkreft.com

Birds Stone Fly

The Birds Stone Fly was created by Cal Bird and is this week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly. Cal Bird had a small fly shop in San Francisco in the 1940s and 50s. At least that’s what my quick Internet search found. An interesting side note is he lived across the street from Frank Matarelli. Does…

Matts Fur | www.johnkreft.com

Matts Fur

Here is a Matts Fur fly I tied and fished in the 1970’s. Found it in Kaufmann’s Tying Nymphs book which was my bible in those days.  It still works! Use it for a Golden Stone nymph imitation.

Nymph Box | www.johnkreft.com

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…

Golden Stone Adult | www.johnkreft.com

Golden Stoneflies

Golden Stoneflies were out in force along the Lower Deschutes River when I floated from Warm Springs to Trout Creek last week. Goldens are a very important part of a trout’s diet. A couple species are lumped under the heading “Golden Stonefly” – the Hesperoperla pacifica and Calineuria californica. Who cares what the scientific names are,…