Category Archives: Flies

Date Night…An Evening Out….

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Mary Ann and I had to get out of the house for a few hours and managed to sneak out to the Metolius River yesterday evening for two hours. It was an incredibly peaceful evening away from the crowds down on the lower river. We both took out our 7′ 9″ 4 wt bamboo rods for the evening. A few BWOs starting showing up about 5:00 PM and then some PMDs about 30 minutes later. No fish seemed to want to come to the surface but we did well swinging PMD soft hackles…Thanks John Kreft for your great PMD Soft Hackle Pattern.

waiting for the evening hatch….
Mary Ann working a nice riffle.
A Nicely Colored Rainbow
John Kreft’s #16 PMD Soft Hackle

Costs of Fly Fishing Gear in 1925

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I came across an interesting add in an old archived edition of a Central Oregon Newspaper (The Brownsville Times) this week.  In 1925, a Bamboo Fishing Rod was only $3.25, Leaders (the expensive ones) were 20 cents, and flies were 15 cents each.  Interestingly, Fly Books (the good ones) were $1.90.  Here is a look:

1925 Brownsville Times

More on Dave Hughes’ Wet Fly Techniques

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I’ve been reading Dave Hughes’ book “Wet Flies” recently, and it’s caused me to think a lot more about how I fly fish.  On a brief outing to the Middle Deschutes River last week, I took my 8′  0″  5 wt slow action rod to swing some of Dave’s recommended patterns for the local browns.  The “Silver Invicta” in a size 14 proved to be a great fly to swing through shallower riffles, and it brought many feisty browns in the 7″ to 12″ range to the net.  I think I’ll be using Dave’s wet fly techniques a lot more in my fishing outings, especially on smaller water.  Check it out:

Wet Flies by Dave Hughes

The Silver Invicta

The browns in the middle Deschutes River couldn’t resist a swung fly.

 

Salmon Flies on the Middle Deschutes River

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Yep, the Salmon Flies are out on the Middle Deschutes River.  I hit one of my favorite sections of the river today for 2 hours to see if I could tempt a few fish.  The river is in fantastic shape, clear and perfect for wading.  While the adult salmon flies were out and flying around, I couldn’t get any interest in the big dries from any fish.  But, several browns and rainbows were happy to take a black rubber legged Kaufman Stonefly drifted on the bottom.  I used my EuroNymphing bamboo rod, a 3 ft bicolored sighter, and about 4 ft. of 5X tippet.   Here are a couple of photos of my morning.

Middle Deschutes River

A big Salmon Fly.

The rubber legged Kaufman Stone that worked well today.

A pretty brown that took my black rubber legged Kaufman Stone.