Currently browsing… fly tying
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Choosing to keep lead out of the environs we fish
Lead can poison loons and eagles, but we can choose fly tying alternatives. “I fish mainly because I love the environs where trout are found,” wrote Robert Traver in the preface to his classic book, Trout Madness. The passage came to mind this summer as I paddled my canoe across the lake back to my…
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3,000 attend Troutfest Colorado at Coors Field
2nd annual celebration of conservation, education and fly fishing a major hit in Denver. Normally, we see conservation expos and fly fishing trade shows stuffed inside convention centers or large resort hotels. Exhibitors in confined boxes, bumping elbows with each other while attendees work through isles weaving their way from exhibitor to exhibitor. This isn’t…
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Tie One On: Equinox Caddis a triple threat for fall
The Equinox Caddis is my go-to fly to fish when October Caddis are hatching. I designed this fly to solve a couple of problems. To effectively imitate an October Caddis, your fly should ride low, but this is often at the expense of buoyancy. Furthermore, the cold weather that brings on the October Caddis hatch…
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Tie One On: Rickety Cricket
Here’s a fly to tie before you hit the new Gold Medal stretch of the Colorado TU is helping create. This week in Colorado, TU celebrated the groundbreaking of a project that will reconnect a section of the upper Colorado River and, in a few short years, open up a new section of Gold Medal…
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TU Business: Thin Air Angler
He’s one of America’s best at the vise. He’s an Umpqua Signature Fly Designer. But you may not know that he’s an outstanding guide, too.
You may know him as a fly-tying savant. His reputation there is solid, and if you’ve ever watched him at a fly-fishing show, you can see immediately that it’s deserved. He makes hard things look easy. Bob Reece is a professional in every sense of the word. He’s one of America’s best at the vise.…
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Tying the Steelhead Coachman
If you were to look in the box of a seasoned steelheader on the banks of the Snake, Grande Ronde or Clearwater chances are good you'll find.
I can distinctly remember the first few flies I started fishing with. As I would imagine the case is with many people, that selection of a dozen flies was a 'who's who' of the classics. The Adams, Elk-hair Caddis, Muddler Minnow, Pheasant Tail, and Royal Wulff seem almost like names from scripture in the pantheon…
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Tying the Jimmy John Perdigon
The Perdigon-style nymph has become a fly-fishing staple over the last several years. Popularized by European competition fly fishers, the nymph is a fast-sinker and a proven fish-getter. As a trailer fly either fished with the high-stick Euro-method or under an indicator, the Perdigon helps drag a bigger fly down a bit and keep it…