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I try not to get too post-happy but sometimes an event requires me to contemplate, journal, and share on what just happened before I start forgetting the details in the ether of my brain fog. My last post (less than a week ago) was about my daughter's personal best trout - I didn't fish much...

My oldest just finished up her sophomore year at the university. She's been so busy the last couple years that she has been unable to trout fish. Finally, she gave me the green light "Let's go fish, dad". Man, what an honour...I couldn't wait. Plus, I was gonna surprise her by letting her fish...

the St. Patrick Pattern from the 1902 Cork Collection of Salmon Flies Tied in hand fully-gutted to fish. Sláinte!

I told my pal that I need a photo subject...someone who fishes bamboo and dry flies for steelhead. I guaranteed him a dry fly steelhead. He obliged. Stupid me...I brought the wrong camera lens to the river. So not quite the images I wanted, but one can't be too bummed about dry fly steelhead...

I tend to promote dry flies for steelhead. It's fun and can be very effective. Now is the best time of year to do it. I prefer natural patterns. Nothing like seeing that bug disappear in a big swirl of fury. In some cases, the steelhead miss the hook...let them rest a few minutes and cast...

A Dry Fly's Journey: From Birth to Retirement (July Dry Fly Steelhead - hatchery river - double hooks allowed)

A quick share of a recent coast trip: Some good friends decided to try their luck at coastal dory fishing. It was a first for me. Launching and landing off the beach in a wooden dory was a highlight. Flies were used... Plethora of rods were bent... The net got coho scaly... And...

If any of you have read Lee Spencer's book A Temporary Refuge, you probably can recall in his observations that steelhead will rise to all sorts of floating detritus: leaves, twigs, pieces of styrofoam, seeds, plastic, etc. (brief background: the North Umpqua's Lee Spencer was the river watch...

It's been a few years (she is now 18 and successfully completing her first year at the university), but it's a story worth recalling and sharing to those that have an ear. In 2019, my oldest daughter, Emma, was 15yrs old. Every summer, my family would join me camping at a storied river that...

Back in 2015, an on-line magazine wanted me to write an article on tying flies in hand. Historically, Atlantic salmon patterns were tied in hand prior to the invention of the vise. In those days, ghillies would tie up a pattern on the river for their sport when the occasion arose. Since my...

I thought I should share this series (since it's rare to record these moments) : A good friend/photographer, Senor Esteb, was able to capture a sequence of tying a dry fly on the river and raising a steelhead on said fly.