The Caddis Fly: Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

The Editor by Mike Brooks is an Atlantic Salmon fly, but it is also a good summer steelhead fly pattern in low, clear water. It literally glows. Tie this fly sparse.

The Editor
Hook: Size 6 Tiemco up-eye salmon hook
Thread: 6/0 BlueTail: Golden pheasant breast feather
Body: Fluorescent white floss
Rib: Pearl mylar tinsel and fluorescent green mono
Wing: […]

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Mike Brooks, friend of the Caddis Fly and expert Atlantic Salmon fly tier demonstrates a classic Atlantic Salmon fly in this video. Brooks uses this pattern for steelhead in the Pacific Northwest, but learned to fish the Ally’s Shrimp in Sweden.

Ally’s Shrimp:
Hook: Size 6 double Atlantic Salmon Hook
Thread: 6/0 Fire Orange
Tail: Fire orange buck […]

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Friend of the shop, Mike Brooks, ties some of the most elegant flies we’ve ever seen. This pattern, originated by Syd Glasso, is an excellent traditional steelhead fly. Mike’s flies are on display in the Smithsonian.

Quillayute
Hook: Size 4-6 Tiemco up-eye steelhead hook
Thread: 6/0 hot orange
Tag: Flat silver tinsel
Tail: Golden pheasant breast feather
Body: Fluorescent fire […]

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The black mini leech is a great pattern for the Cascades High Lakes, fished under an indicator, possibly in conjunction with a chironomid pattern. You want this pattern to be under two inches in length. There’s not much to this fly — and that’s a good thing, considering that you could be fishing this on […]

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The key to success for this midge pupa pattern is a sparse body, so tie it with as few wraps as possible. This Chironomid pattern works really well in the Oregon high lakes. It can be fished under an indicator or stripped up from the bottom. Barrett says to fish this pattern on top of […]

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According to Barrett, this rubber-leg monster will catch bass in any water, but it is perfect for fly fishing for bass here in Oregon. This beast is weed-resistant, heavy as hell, and indestructable. Tie up a bunch of these flies and go punish those non-native largemouth and smallmouth. Barrett says they taste great this time […]

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In this new fly tying video, Barrett demonstrates how to tie the bead head pheasant tail nymph, a great mayfly nymph imitation. He also demonstrates how to prepare turkey feathers for durability, using Softex and a turkey flat feather. If you want a fly to last more than two or three fish, you’ll want to […]

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This is a quick and easy elk hair caddis pattern. You can tie it in yellow, green, tan and other colors, but yellow is a good color to have in your box in the early spring. I tie in as much wing as I can for fishing heavy water, but you can vary the amount […]

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Get ready to catch stillwater trout in Oregon’s high lakes with this classic chironomid midge pattern, the Ice cream cone. Barrett says this staple fly for Crane Prairie is a great year round bloodworm imitation. In the spring, fish really key in on these chironomids fished under an indicator. Tie these sparse for realism.

Ice Cream […]

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This is a Little Yellow Sally, a yellow stonefly imitation — a great pattern for the McKenzie and Willamette Rivers on summer evenings. If you really want this fly to float high, heavily wrap the hackle. If you want it to lay flat, you can clip the bottom hackles off. You can also tie this […]

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