Diamond Lake is the forgotten lake of Oregon stillwater anglers. Oh, I’m sure there are fly anglers that fish it religiously, but not like East lake or Crane Prairie Reservoir. Those lakes are obsessed over and the resources to understand those lakes are plentiful. The die-hards of Diamond are few […]
Flies
17 posts
Pulling flies is verbiage from across the pond. They use that term whenever they are fishing stillwaters and presenting the flies in a cast and retrieve style. I like the term pulling better than cast and retrieve or stripping for the reasons that it describes the action and presentation accurately. […]
Bead Chart I wanted to develop my own bead chart for those tiers who wanted to get into the weeds on density and which beads to choose. Most bead charts are vague and don’t give all the information that I would want and I would have to search in multiple […]
Last month was the NW Expo in Albany, Oregon. It’s one of the largest fly tying shows in the United States and I was fortunate enough to be able to tie at the show for both days. My main focus was on flies used mostly in competitions here in the […]
This year I’m going full bore into the fly fishing competitions scene. Last year (2022) I dipped my toes into it and participated in a couple of comps in Central Oregon on two stillwater venues, Crane Prairie Reservoir and Paulina Lake. This year’s season will have competitions in Oregon, California, […]
Most anglers interested in competitive fly fishing only think of rivers when they think of a venue for a competition. This isn’t the case at all. Rivers play a massive role in the competitive scene and are integral to the success of an individual or the team, but there is […]
I was fortunate enough to be able to go after salmon this year on the fly. I had a friend that has talked to me about and wanted me to come with him after chum salmon. This year was the year that it worked out for the both of us […]
This past weekend was my first fly fishing competition. I’m going to go over the prep work I did for this comp, gear I brought, gear I wish I had brought, how fishing went, my mind set, and the results of the comp. I’m hoping this is the first of […]
As a competent euro nympher you need to adapt to different waters. This means when you encounter deep runs, fast water, and steep rivers, like the West Coast and Rocky Mountain states offer, you need to have the right flies for the situation. For me it is having a diverse […]
Sea run cutthroat are one of my favorite fish to go after. Everything about them feels so romantic and quintessential Oregon/ PNW. The time of year, the weather, the waters in which they swim; all make me feel like I am going back in time to an era that all […]
One of my favorite things about the Pacific Northwest is the diversity of fish you can go after. Every day of the year you can go after some kind of fish on the fly rod no matter the condition, and you can have success going after them. This brings me […]
I was recently on the Wet Fly Swing Podcast hosted by Dave Stewart. On the show we talked fly tying for euro nymphs and some of my recent fishing. This show was recorded back in May before the heat wave this year and before I switched over to lakes, salt, […]
As the industry changes it looks like the trend for bigger and more audacious flies is sticking around. I’m definitely part of the movement to go big with the flies. Tying and fishing deer hair flies and poppers on 4/0+ hooks isn’t your typical fly. Fish eat them and especially […]
Pre-spawn time is the one of the best times of the year to catch massive smallmouths. Anglers that go after record fish, fish the pre-spawn. This is when the fish are moving out of cooler deep water to stage for the spawn and are ready to feed to have enough […]
I love seeing other peoples fly tying work. It offers inspiration and motivation. Instagram an excellent source of fly tying inspiration. Be sure to follow Garrett and Garren on Instagram and here are some other accounts that are recommended to follow. avkrokar – Mathias Aberg Mathias has some amazing trout […]
I recently did some experimenting with clear coating on foam popper heads. I’ve wanted to find a better way to coat and protect my popper heads than what I was doing before. Like those who tie flies for big predatory fish like bass, pike, muskie, dorado, peacocks, etc. you want […]
Recently I went out to go after pacific rockfish on the fly off a jetty here in Oregon. It was a blast. From the process I learned some good information about fly construction and design. By no means am I an expert on catching these fish, but I have tied […]