Odds and Ends

In this week’s post, I would like to share a few odds and ends. My energy has returned after being down and out due to Covid and I finally made it to the river last week to fish a couple of days…and the trout were waiting for me! In addition, I found myself at my fly tying vise where I finished my fly orders and tied flies for an upcoming Casting for Recovery auction.

I hope this beautiful Brown Trout caught your attention. It was my first fish in a month.

Yes, I caught it on my home waters, the Metolius. We don’t see a lot of Brown Trout here, at least in the section we frequent. I’ve heard of a few larger Brownies in the upper river, but have never seen one myself. This is the prettiest Brown Trout I’ve caught here. I love how the red spot along the body stand out.

And a Rainbow Trout on the same day.

It’s refreshing to see these colorful fish. We caught beautiful trout on our fly fishing road trip, but it’s hard to beat the colors of these fish. Notice the three spots above the eye? Kinda unique.

Both of these trout ate an IOBO Humpy. For you fly tyers, here is a video from my RiverKeeper Flies Youtube channel where I demonstrate how to tie the fly.

I don’t know why this fly works so well in many of the waters we fish, but it sure does. Some of the CDC fibers break off and create a tail. It seems to fish well with or without.

I was having difficulty sourcing quality CDC. I used to purchase CDC feathers from Trouthunter in Last Chance, ID, but them seem to have problems finding these feathers.

When I was at Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone, MT, Bucky showed me some new CDC feathers they have begun to carry. Find the link HERE.

Besides these CDC feathers, I picked up another Cree cape.

I couldn’t resist purchasing this Whiting Heritage Hackle Cree cape from Jim’s Flyco at Campfire Lodge. He’s located between Hebgen and Quake Lake, along the banks of the Madison River. I found several on the wall and decided upon this one.

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, I returned to the vise and was able to complete four fly orders. I enjoyed tying those flies and decided to tie a box of flies in support of the Casting for Recovery retreat my wife leads in Southern Oregon. Here are the flies I tied for her…5 dozen.

I included the six André Puyans Loop Wing Dry Fly (tied by Jeff Smith) I featured in last week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly post.

Here is a better image of the flies:

From left to right:

• André Puyans Loop Wing Dry Fly – #16 (6 each)
• Arrick’s Parachute Ant – Black – #16 (12 each)
• RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple – PMD – #15 (12 each)
• Iris Caddis – Tan – #16 (12 each)
• X Caddis – Tan – #16 (12 each)
• Purple Haze – #16 (12 each)

I’ll provide more information in the near future about the upcoming auction.

Enjoy…go fish!