Drawing Flies 52 Caddis (Sparkle) Pupa. Pigma detail pen with watercolor. Tech info: I had gotten a request for one of my “old school” style pen-and-ink pieces, and while I didn’t have the time to do what I would normally do with intense detail work, this drawing has more little bits to it that last [...]

Rumor has it that 2010 could be a crazy grasshopper year. I fished the Bighorn in the summer of 1986, when hoppers were absolutely everywhere. I caught more truly big fish on top there that summer than any other time since. If the predictions hold true, there will be a run on hopper patterns come [...]

This is just a quick re-play of a previous post-turned-page. I occasionally re-post older posts and/or pages since that info sometimes falls by the wayside (at least if my Google Analytics are any indication). In addition, with the recent hopper-based link from FlyTalk, I figure a little post on easy droppers is a good idea. [...]

Those on the FF&W E-List already got an excerpt from the upcoming Fishing the Film book, but I figured that the blog could use it’s own little snippet, as well. This is from a story about fishing damselflies in the film, and includes one of the drawings from the book. …We had observed and photographed [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Hendrickson(s). Chisel-point pen with watercolor. Tech info: Pen and ink with watercolor on Pentalic paper. Long story as to why this fly was so late, but to get it done while it was still Thursday, I had to remind myself of the “Three Rules” of Drawing Flies 52: 1) Agree on a [...]

A slice from the March/April 2010 FF&W E-List mailing: Tube Jigging. Tube Jigging (a name that my father is fond of using) is just about what it sounds like: Using a float tube (or other small watercraft) to slowly work a fly in a “jigging” manner. As you may have already surmised, this is not [...]

As some of you may already know, I’m back to writing my regular Techniques column for “Fly Fish America” magazine. The first of the new columns will be appearing in the May 2010 “Trout” issue. The subject is “Down-and-Across with a Parachute.” Basically, it’s about using the combination of a down-and-across approach with Parachute and [...]

My favorite pieces of fly-fishing gear are reels. Just something about a beautifully made fly reel that holds my eye. Of the reels in my personal gear bag, there are some that stand out as continual favorites. One of those is my Ari ‘t Hart “Ari 1″ from the 1990s era of Ari’s design work [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Undertaker. Made with pen, paper, scanner and software. Tech info: Pen and ink on Pentalic paper, scanned into Photoshop for adjustment, exported to Illustrator, tweaked and colored. I wanted the Undertaker to have a sense of darkness about it that went beyond the fly itself, so I scribbled a thick black background [...]

Yes, it’s coming soon! With some educational goodies (including a Fishing the Film book excerpt) and a “tax-break” give-away of a Nature of Fly Casting book or FF&W tee (winner’s choice). I fully realize that March/April could pretty soon be April/May, so I’m aiming to have it out by the weekend. Update: The E-List mailing [...]

So here’s the “official” chapter list for the upcoming book, Fishing the Film (due out in June 2010—we hope): 1. Fishing the Film 2. The Fish’s Window 3. The Universal Emerger 4. Feeding at the Film 5. Casting for Drag 6. Mending for Drag 7. Fishing Dead Drift 8. Action Film 9. Film-Fly Design Concepts [...]

Drawing Flies 52 Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear. Mechanical pencil and watercolor on tracing paper with watercolor wash underlay. Tech info: More soon, but I can tell you it was a week for experiments, based on last week’s work. I can also tell you that the fly has basically no color to it at all—just pencil [...]

Sent some Loop-Wing Dun tying instructions and illustrations over to my friends at FlyTalk. The post is now up there for reading. I’ll likely post a variation of that content here later this week, so check back for additional info. If you’ve been wanting to tie the Loop-Wing (well, one of the many loop-wing patterns [...]

One of my favorite patterns for imitating small mayfly nymphs, sliced straight from GB’s 1991 book, Designing Trout Flies. And by request, the Loop Wing Dun—perhaps my favorite small mayfly dun imitation ever—is the next fly up for instruction. Almost forgot: GB found a small stack of Designing Trout Flies buried in the dark recesses [...]