My good friend, John Kreft, has a wonderful WEB page and blog dedicated to fly tying. He’s an awesome fly tier and has some great information, both historical and for tying, about flies and fly fishing. He recently posted a great blog entry about fly fishing items for the upcoming Christmas holidays. So, check out his latest post, as well as all the good content at:
http://www.johnkreft.com/2016-christmas-list-for-fly-fishers-and-fly-tyers/
John Kreft and RiverKeeper Flies
I got the chance to spend a day on the Metolius River this week with Meryl Schenker (http://merylschenker.com/), a friend and an incredibly talented professional photographer from the Seattle area. I had asked Meryl to help me with some new photographs for my WEB site. We had a great time on the river, shot some great photos, and even caught some feisty rainbows. I have a goal to re-design my WEB site in the next couple of months, utilizing several of Meryl’s great photos. So stay tuned, hopefully I’ll be able to get that done. Here are a few photos from our day.
A quick selfie with Meryl and me.
Pondering where to fish!
A pretty little rainbow that took a #14 Tan Ant Pattern.
I’m a firm believer that it’s a good idea to “check out the bugs” in the river nearly every time you fish, especially if you’re doing a lot of nymph fishing. Mary Ann and I were on the Crooked River last week fishing a spot we fish often and started with a bug sampling. We have a small net that is about 15″ x 15″ that one of us holds in the water while the other turns over rocks upstream. We then transfer the bugs in the net to a white bowl that aids in viewing and identifying. For the particular spot we sampled, there were very nigh numbers of olive/tan scuds in sizes ranging from about #18 to #10, as well as black mayfly nymphs that were about #18 and #16 in size. We both used euro-nymphing techniques for our fishing for the day. Using #14 and #16 gold or tan scuds, #18 Psycho Mayfly nymphs, and #16 Black Beauties produced a lot of rainbows in the 6″ to 14″ range. So, knowing the bugs in the water and matching those bugs certainly helped us. Here are a few photos of the day.
Bug Sampling from the Crooked River
Scuds and mayfly nymphs.
Our fly choices for the day.
A nice 14″ rainbow that took a #16 black beauty nymph.
I had a great time this past week at the International Federation of Fly Fishers annual fly fishing fair in Livingston, Montana, and was lucky to get out for a few days on the water before the fair started. I was joined one day by my friend, Gary Turri, of California for a day on Nelson’s Spring Creek. Gary is a fantastic angler and a Certified Fly Casting Instructor as well. I put on one of my bamboo fly rods in Gary’s hands to fish for the day…we both fished 7′ 6″ 5 wt FreeStone Series bamboo rods. We had lots of fun casting tiny flies for very educated browns, rainbows, and cutthroats, and we each netted a few fish. Here are a few pictures of our day.
Nelson’s Spring Creek
Gary and I showing off our bamboo fly rods.
A nice cutthroat that took a #18 Cinnamon Ant
Mary Ann and I are getting ready to head to Livingston, Montana for a week to attend the upcoming International Federation of Fly Fishers Fair. It should be a great time. I’ll have a booth with my bamboo fly rods at the fair, and Mary Ann will be presenting several classes. And…if everything works out, we’ll also get a little fishing time on the local springs creeks also. Hope to see you at the fair.
2016 International Federation of Fly Fishers Fair