stillwater

11 posts

Diamond Lake Trip Report 2024

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 […]

Fin and Fire Podcast with Jeff Mishler

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 […]

Chironomids and Buzzers

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 […]

Flies You Need for Pulling

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. […]

Diamond Lake Trip Report 2023

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 […]

Fly Patterns from the NW Expo

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 […]

How to Prepare for a Fly Fishing Competition

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, […]

Control the Boat or Fish the Front?

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 […]

My First Fly Fishing Competition

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 […]

Middle Fork of the Willamette Trip Report 2/23/20

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 […]