The last couple years I have written about fishing Diamond Lake. The lake deserves all the love it has been getting over the last few years from fly anglers. For some reason Oregonians have not fished Diamond Lake. I don’t think that’s on purpose. Oregon is one of the best […]
stillwater
20 posts
When fishing stillwaters, attractor flies are extremely under utilized here in the states. I think because of two things; most stillwater anglers don’t know how or why to use stillwater attractor flies, and because the materials to tie them and the flies are not usually stocked in fly shops. This […]
Buoyancy is an incredible principle that as fly anglers, we need to take more advantage of. Buoyancy can be achieved through a variety of materials like cervid hair (deer, elk, moose, caribou), dubbing (like alpaca), yarns (like poly yarn), and foam. I’m going to talk about foam in this article. […]
I went and fished East Lake in the Newbery Crater last year in June. The fishing was tough but we squeaked out a few fish and a couple of them were browns! If you have any questions leave them down below.
So I was back at the Santiam Fly Casters a few weeks ago and spoke there about some stillwater strategies. I specifically talked to them about strategies for a new angler to approach a stillwater. I broke down gear, locations, terms, where to find fish, and more. There are some […]
Last fall I fished Diamond Lake and was able to squeak out a Diamond Lake Slam. It was a fun but tough day of fishing. I was able to get 3 out of my 4 fish on film, missed the brown because I wasn’t recording, and luckily my fiancee was […]
Heading back to see if we do a repeat of the previous week!
In this video I head out to an Oregon lake in search of tiger, brown, & rainbow trout. Luckily in this video we find all three! Watch as we fish using loch style tactics where we pull flies, use indicators, and washing line techniques.
Stillwater fly fishing has become my hyperfocus within fly fishing. Don’t get me wrong I still hit the rivers for trout or jetty for rockfish or some of the best smallmouth bass water in the world, from time to time, but stillwater trout has been so much fun and produces […]
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 […]
I was on another podcast again. This will make it seven total guest spots across four different shows. In this one I talk about the industry and where I think it is going and how fly tying is not dying but on the contrary, it’s growing. Jeff and I touch […]
In North America, in stillwater fisheries, the small but mighty chironomid is the foundation to a healthy lake and big fish. They range in sizes and colors but are found in nearly all lakes or ponds no matter the latitude. As someone who obsesses over fly tying and fishing I […]
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 […]
The blog doesn’t have a lot of trip reports but I thought the fly fishing community should have a modern report on Diamond Lake. I was recently out at Diamond Lake to do some fishing with a buddy of mine. It was a great trip that you’re here to […]
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 […]
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 […]
I need a wading jacket The Middle Fork of the Willamette is one of the most under fished trout fisheries in the Willamette Valley if you asked me. There are others, but this is up there. I never make any sense to me. It’s not far from population centers like […]