Tag Archives: EuroNymphing

A Great Fly Pattern Of Mine – The DD Nymph

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I thought I would pass on a terrific fly pattern that I’ve been using with great success on Oregon and Idaho waters.  I designed The DD Nymph about 5 years ago, and since then it has out-fished just about every other fly pattern in my fly box.  It’s a great little nymph to drift along the stream bottom or as a dropper to a larger dry fly, and has been especially effective when there don’t seem to be many bugs hatching.  I suspect that fish take this fly as a small cased caddis, but who knows.  Anyway, if you tie your own flies, you should whip out a few of these for your fly box.

The DD Nymph

Hook:  #14 1x long (I use Daiichi #1560)

Body:  about 10 strands of pheasant tail

Rib:  Fine copper wire

Thorax:  Dave Whitlock SLF dubbing (I like to use the dark stone nymph color)

Collar:  Either red or chartreuse thread

Bead:  3/32″ Copper

The DD Nymph

The DD Nymph

 

FIshing on Hat Creek, California

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I got to spend a few days with my “California fishing buddies” this past Memorial Day weekend…an annual trip that we’ve been taking for the past 30 years.  The lower section of Hat Creek is a mostly broken riffles, and doesn’t get much fishing pressure.

A sunny afternoon with a 8' 0" 5 wt bamboo rod on Hat Creek.

A sunny afternoon with a 8′ 0″ 5 wt bamboo rod on Hat Creek.

Fishing was a little slow as we were just coming out of some cold weather.  But the stoneflies were just starting to move around and I picked up a few nice fish on Kauffmans Stonefly Nymphs, using a EuroNymphing technique.  Here is a nice 16″ fish:

A Beautiful 16" Hat Creek Rainbow.

A Beautiful 16″ Hat Creek Rainbow.

 

French Nymphing on the Crooked River with Bamboo Rods

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After way too long, Mary Ann and I finally got out for a couple of days of fishing on the Crooked River in Central Oregon last week.  The water level was nice but we found fishing success was a little slow.  Some bugs were flying in the afternoon (caddis, BWO, and midges) but very few fish were coming up.  Mary Ann tried swinging streamers with one of my 10′  6″  5 wt bamboo switch rods but the fish didn’t seem to want the larger flies.   I tried an 8′  0″ slow action 5 wt bamboo rod from my Spring Creek Series and had decent success with French nymphing techniques and indicators.  The slow action of this rod cast the lightly weighted nymphs well and the soft tip helped with detecting light strikes.   We both managed to pick up some decent rainbows and whitefish in the 10″ to 12″ range, typical sizes for the Crooked River.  A small #18 black AP nymph or a #8 stonefly nymph fished on the bottom with French style indicators proved to be the most successful. Here are a few photos from our time on the Crooked River last week:

French Nymphing on the Crooked River

French Nymphing on the Crooked River

A nice rainbow from the Crooked River

A nice rainbow from the Crooked River

Mary Ann and some two-handed casting with a bamboo switch rod.

Mary Ann and some two-handed casting with a bamboo switch rod.

 

 

 

 

Fly Fishing in Stanley, Idaho

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I haven’t posted in quite a while.  That’s because I’ve been in Stanley, Idaho all summer just hanging out, doing lots of fishing, and continuing to work on my bamboo fly rods.  Mary Ann guides here for Silver Creek Outfitters, www.silver-creek.com , from June 15th through Semptember 15th on the Salmon River.  While I’m here, I’ve been writing a fly fishing report on a blog at www.flyfishingstanleyidaho.com .    Check it out to see what fishing here in central Idaho is like.

Fly Fishing Stanley Idaho (580x233)

 

Bamboo Rods on Hat Creek

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I spent a few days in Northern California last weekend fishing Hat Creek.  My buddy, Bill, had recently picked up a Montegue Rapadan that was in beautiful condition, and he was dying to get it on the water.  I took out my 9′  0″  5 wt Euronymphing rod.  The weatther had taken a turn for the worse so we had cold temperatures and off-and-on rain showers.  But, there were still some nice mid-day mayfly hatches.  Stonefly nynphs and small soft-hackles produced the most fish for us over our three days of fishing.  We didn’t land any large fish but still caught plenty to make if a fun time.