Odds and Ends

We have been back from our Patagonia fly fishing trip for a week and a half and thought I’d share a few odds and ends as I’m slowly getting back into a normal routine. We returned home to a snowy driveway and temperatures in the 30’s, a vast departure from summer weather in Argentina. I spent several days bundled up shoveling snow. I’ve been reliving some great memories from our trip, this image of a Rio Codihue Brown trout is one of them.

Holding Rio Codihue Brown Trout | www.johnkreft.com

First of all, for the fly tyers reading this, I’ll be teaching for my Central Oregon Fly Tyer’s Guild on Thursday night (2/20/25) at 5 pm Pacific time. Here is the Zoom link if you’d like to join the session and watch me tie a couple flies that worked in Argentina – a Brown and Orange Perdigon and Swisher’s PMX Royal. You might remember a post entitled Woes of a Fly Tyer where I shared the struggle of tying the PMX Royal and poking fun at myself. I haven’t tied the fly in a couple of months. We’ll see how teaching the fly will go!

Here is a link to the Zoom session:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7963775593?pwd=c1F0a0JwMHRHR3lydDJMMnNZOWh5dz09

Meeting ID: 796 377 5593
Passcode: 7RxFew

Secondly, the NW Fly Tying & Fly Fishing Expo on March 7 & 8 at the Linn County Expo Center in Albany, OR is only 2 1/2 weeks away. I’ll be tying all day on Friday and Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm at table 6 so please stop by and say ‘hello’. This is a wonderful event for all levels of fly fishers. In fact, I’ve written posts in previous years you can find here:

I’m back at the vise now catching up on a few customer orders. It felt good tying flies today. I hope my muscle memory returns quickly since I’ll be teaching on Zoom in a few days!

I hope to finish a fly order this week that includes in part October Caddis, Higa’s SOS, Hemmingway Caddis and a couple other pattens in sizes 22 and 24. That’s quite a variety and will certainly get me back to tying!

I’m currently tying #18 Higa’s SOS and put together a quick speed tying video where I set up my Nikon Z 6ii, which has a 29 minute 59 second recording limit, to see how many flies I could tie. I’ve shared similar YouTube videos that seem to be popular. It may not be for everyone, but it’s entertaining to others. Here is a link:

I’m anxious to get back to my home waters and try a little Euro nymphing in the next few days. My ‘summer’ fly fishing last month is over for the time being. I’m looking out the window at snow in the backyard and won’t expect too much of a dry fly hatch. There is always hope for a short BWO mayfly hatch and I’ll be watching for it.

I hope you have enjoyed my recent posts about our time fly fishing with Coyhaique River Lodge in Chile. Here is a quick list of the posts:

I’ll share our Argentina fly fishing experience with SET Fly Fishing at Casa de Campo and Codihue in the next few weeks. Spoiler alert…we had a spectacular time!

I spent quite a few hours culling through over 1700 pictures I took in Patagonia. I try hard these days to only save the better ones. I’ve culled the total down to 980. By the time I crop, adjust highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, and use a few masks in Lightroom, I’m amazed at how much time it takes. But in the long run, it is worth it as I save fewer images.

We usually take multiple fish pictures and I go through them to select the best one or two. Dancingtrout does a much better job holding fish for the camera than I do. It’s a great partnership as I’ve captured what I consider great images with my Nikon equipment.

You know how those tails move back and forth when holding a trout? They just don’t seem to hold still for the perfect pose. We keep them wet and return them to the water frequently for a quick drink before lifting them for a shot or two.

Here is an example of the fast action shots I take.

Jumping Rainbow - Upper Rio Simpson | www.johnkreft.com

I pointed the camera where I thought the fish would jump out of the water and held down the shutter release, ending up with 5 images. Here is what I would call a ‘throwaway’.