Skunk Up
Original Skunk pattern (from Steelhead Fly Patterns and Flies by Trey Combs): Tail – Red hackle fibers Body – Black chenille ribbed with silver tinsel Hackle – Black, sometimes tied as a beard Wing – White bucktail or polar bear…
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River Dipper
I used to have a river-friend on the Tolt River out close to Carnation, Wa. For a long while, this run on the river was a favorite steelhead haunt of mine. It was close to my home in Woodinville. I…
Crotch Deep In Fast Waters
Wading is not one of my favorite fishing subjects, but it deserves some comments. It is one of those evil necessaries associated with steelheading. Unless one fishes solely from a boat, river anglers have to develop skills needed to move…
Curiosity is the single most important trait of a fly fisherman
Curiosity is the attribute that drives the sport of fly fishing. It is why we start in the first place and it is what drives us to continue the pursuit until our legs stops working and beyond. It is the single…
The Old Trail
The trail never gets easier, only more familiar. I anticipate the meadows with calm pleasure and the cliffs with fear and dread. I keep trekking it season after season with my fly rod in my hand. The end of the…
A Beautiful Spring..
Now that it’s spring, I comb the coastline in search of the elusive spring run steelhead. One place that peaks my interest is a point where Canada and Alaska are one. Canada is to the right and Tongass to the…
The thrill ISN’T gone
The most important thing about targeting any anadromous fish is timing. Water conditions and run timing are far and away the most important factors to catching fish. Beyond how far you cast, or what your beautifully spun flies look like,…
‘Be like water my friend’ – Bruce Lee.
Back before there was a mad rush to simply try to catch one and post it online to show your ‘friends’, good anglers would take the time to do a little observing before simply barging in and wading deep and…
The Grease line Caddis and the Bulkley River
The “Greased Line” presentation is a cast with a sub-surface fly. The caster mends the line in order to control the speed and depth of the fly as it is presented broadside. So what does this mean to the fish? It…
traveling the world for off the grid steelhead
I like swinging flies for steelhead. Anywhere. Everywhere. I have been fortunate to chase wild steelhead throughout their range, from the virgin growth redwoods of California, to the stark deserts of Idaho, to the fabled rivers of BC. But the…
