Peeking Caddis | www.johnkreft.com

George Anderson’s Peeking Caddis

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is George Anderson’s Peeking Caddis. This cased caddis fly pattern was developed in the 1970’s by George Anderson, owner of Yellowstone Angler in Livingston, MT. The fly imitates the Mother’s Day caddis (Brachycentrus) on the Yellowstone River (and other rivers as well). The bright green banding imitates the body…

Electric Caddis Flies | www.johnkreft.com

Electric Caddis TBT

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Electric Caddis TBT. I pulled out Greg Thomas’ book Best Flies for Idaho (2000) from my bookshelf and thumbed through it and found the Electric Caddis who attributed the fly to Mike Lawson. It got me to thinking…I wonder if the fly is listed in Lawson’s Spring…

Mike Lawson's Caddis Emerger | www.johnkreft.com

Lawson’s Caddis Emerger

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Mike Lawson’s Caddis Emerger. This is another one of Mike Lawson’s flies I picked up at Henry’s Fork Anglers on a recent fly fishing road trip. I asked the guys working behind the counter if they could point out a few flies Mike developed. I purchased several of…

October Caddis Flies | www.johnkreft.com

Ready for October Caddis?

It’s late September and October will be here before we know it. Can you believe Summer is almost over? I just finished a fly order for some October Caddis and that got me thinking about checking my fly boxes to see if I have enough flies for myself! Are you ready for October Caddis? I was…

Massive Caddis Hatch | www.johnkreft.com

Caddis Time

It’s the middle of summer and that means it’s caddis time. Yes, all those spots are caddis…thousands and thousands of them. You might recognize this image a little better. These prolific bugs with their tent-shaped wings hatch throughout summer after the larger mayflies and stoneflies are finished. It can produce some very good fly fishing…

Winter Rainbow with $3 Dip | www.johnkreft.com

Purple Serendipity

This week’s post presents Serendipity fly variations, including my favorite, the $3 Dip. If you are a regular here at RiverKeeper Flies, you have seen pictures of the $3 Dip as well as a few pics of the fly in a fish or two.  Last week at our fly club’s Winter Fly Tying class, one of…

October Caddis Cases on Rock | www.johnkreft.com

Preparing for October Caddis

It might be a little early to begin talking about and preparing for October Caddis, but while fishing last week, we happened to see a large number of caddis cases … big caddis cases … attached to a rock partially submerged in the water. It looked as though someone had collected all of them and…

Metolius redside on drake | www.johnkreft.com

June Fly Box

Perhaps you saw last week’s post entitled Fishing the Lower Deschutes. I drifted the river twice last week. My fly box was full of Salmonfly and Golden Stonefly imitations. So I returned to my home river today and found many more PMD’s hatching and thought I better get my June fly box in order. Where…

Massive Caddis Hatch | www.johnkreft.com

Mother’s Day Caddis

The Mother’s Day Caddis hatch is well-known and can be amazing to see. And it’s right around the corner. Yes, all those dots in the picture are caddis flying over the water! Thousands and thousands of American Grannom (Brachycentrus occidentalis) hatch at this time of year. These caddis are the ones building square-shaped cases you…

Rainbow's Eye | www.johnkreft.com

May Fly Box

Wow! The weather has changed dramatically this week. The forecast shows 81 degrees on Thursday. The anticipation of some major hatches is very exciting and I decided I have to get a May fly box ready for the river. This is what I hope to catch. I’ve found the fish to be a little more…