This Blue-Butt Caddis was last year’s week 47 image from the DF(flies) 52 project. It was chosen in memory of the late Tom Helgeson. Check out the full post for more about the fly and Tom. This year’s week 47 image will be a marble trout (due tomorrow, but with the holiday and all, it [...]

After posting that little pic yesterday with the blurb about brookies and mice, I got an email asking about mouse flies. Here’s a simple pattern—little more than a few tails and some lashed-on hair—that works. No excessive trimming, no ears, no eyes, no whiskers. Nothing wrong with eyes, ears and whiskers mind you, just that [...]

Just thought that a few FF&W readers might enjoy a look back at one of the books that influenced GB so deeply in his youth. This is actually a later version of the book after it transitioned to the Noll name. It was originally a Family Circle book, which is the version that my father [...]

One of my clients at last week’s fly-casting clinics in Grants Pass, Oregon, presented me with a rather nice gift: A vintage Bunyan Bug tied by Norman Means himself. This is the “poster pattern” from Norman Maclean’s, A River Runs Through It, and is a fly that, to me, speaks of “old school” Montana like no [...]

This week’s DF52 fish image (spotted gar) turned out to be a last-second type of drawing. Too many fits and starts to be able to properly dig into the details and the play of light. Last year’s week 40 DF52 drawing, however, was just the opposite. The Wickham’s Fancy had a good start and ended [...]

This week’s DF52 fish is going to be something a little different (stay tuned). In the meantime, above is the week 39 image from last year’s DF52 flies-only project: the Bunyan Bug. Drawn on a rock, with a rock, both of which came from the center of A River Runs Through It territory. You can [...]

This week’s DF52 fish is going to be a silver (coho) salmon. Keep watching for that. In the meantime, above is the week 35 image from last year’s DF52 project (2010 was flies only): the Crazy Charlie. You can read the original post here.

Just a pile of flies that I dumped out on my desk recently and felt were worth a quick pic. Once I imported the photo, I went a bit old-school and tacked on a couple of retro-feeling filters. The end result brings my mind’s eye back to those cold, youthful Wisconsin winters of the 1970s [...]

For those following the weekly Drawing Fish 52 (DF52) project this year, here’s a look back at what was happening last year at this same time. The DF52 project in 2010 was Drawing Flies, and the fly from week 33 (corresponding with the Dolly Varden this year) was a Sakasa Kebari (for Tenkara fishing). The [...]

For those following the weekly Drawing Fish 52 (DF52) project this year, here’s a look back at what was happening last year at this same time. The DF52 project in 2010 was Drawing Flies, and the fly from week 31 (corresponding with the chum salmon this year) was a Brassie. The fly is shown above. [...]

For those following the weekly Drawing Fish 52 (DF52) project this year, I thought that I’d do a little look back this week at what was happening last year at this same time. The DF52 project in 2010 was Drawing Flies, and the fly from week 29 (corresponding with the muskellunge this year) was a [...]

As some of you know, I don’t tend to blog a lot about my actual fishing in “real time.” Fishing is often a rather personal affair for me, and I typically use fishing events to later enhance “how-to” pieces and so forth some time after the fact. This week, though, I wanted to do an [...]

For those following the weekly Drawing Fish 52 (DF52) project this year, a sockeye salmon is up next (tomorrow). For those readers who started following the project after 2010, I thought that I’d do a little look back this week at what was happening last year at this same time. The DF52 project in 2010 [...]

Began with a train wreck of a drawing, but managed to save something for this week by doing a quick conversion to vector art and making a mock-up tee out of it. Felt that the outlines of the bronze-colored tee (for the alternate “bronzeback” name for this fish) looked a lot like the bluelines of [...]