This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Denny Rickards Shiner Minnow.
Denny offers these flies in different colors, including Golden, Silver, Olive, Blue Back, Rainbow, and Yellow. I purchased this fly a few years ago at his booth during the NW Fly Tyer and Fly Fishing Expo in Albany, OR.
Here’s what Denny writes about the fly on his website:
“This pattern exploded on the scene in the fall of 2003. The numbers of large trout landed through this past season bare out the effectiveness of this fly. Tied with a polar bear hair substitute gives the fly an appearance of a live minnow. Mixed with the right shades of crystal flash, flashabou and Angel Hair, this pattern looks and moves like a real minnow – I’ll tell you this, the trout agree. I tied it for pursuing big trout in still or moving water, but many anglers have used it for other species of game fish as well. Retrieve it in semi-rapid 8-10 inch pulls and get a tight grip on the rod.”
I met Denny for the first time when my wife and I attended a stillwater flyfishing clinic at Alder Creek Ranch in Sisters many years ago. We didn’t know much about fishing lakes and really enjoyed the clinic AND the fishing. I think that’s probably where I purchased his book Fly-Fishing Stillwaters for Trophy Trout (1997). And perhaps a couple of fly lines to present our flies in the proper zone.
I’ve not fished this fly pattern, but have no reason to believe it wouldn’t be successful like any of the other flies Denny creates, including Denny’s Stillwater Nymph, Denny’s Callibaetis Nymph, Denny’s A.P. Emerger and Denny’s Seal Bugger.
Denny Rickards owns Crystal Creek Anglers in Fort Klamath, Oregon and is an expert fly fisher on Klamath Lake. And he catches BIG fish! Like trophy trout!
You can see him at the NW Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo in Albany, Oregon every year.
To find out more about Denny Rickards, visit his website – www.flyfishingstillwaters.com
Enjoy…go fish!
(John Kreft is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.)
Denny will be at the NW Expo Mar 10 & 11, 2023. He will be teaching a still water class both days.
https://www.nwexpo.com/