Lots of flies are catching fish.  Ants, beetles, hoppers, tricos, caddis, stones, callibaetis, midges, damsels, attractor dries, attractor nymphs and a variety of flashy and subtle streamers in an assortment of sizes.  Don’t forget scuds, sow bugs, worms, leeches and crayfish.  In short, the list is long.  There are lots of food sources available to the fish this time of year. Do lots of food choices make fishing better?  Not so much.  It means that you have a chance to catch fish on just about anything, but it can be difficult to pick the perfect fly.  You can narrow down the options by focusing on a specific piece of water at a particular time of day.  Morning hatches and spinner falls focus feeding behavior, as do evening hatches and egg laying activity.  Hoppers and ants and everything else can fill out the middle of the ...

About six weeks back, Samantha Stevens approached me about setting up a day to try out fly fishing for her Community Rec Center group. In her words: "My goal is to try and get kids more interested in new sports and outdoor activities, so I thought fly fishing would be a great activity to foster that idea. I was thinking that it would be fun and interesting for the kids to learn fly tying, which could take place over the course of an hour or two. We have a room available at the rec center that could be used, or we can meet wherever is most convenient for you. After that, we could go to a Pond to practice some casting and fishing skills." Promoting fly fishing is what I do and I was excited to have the opportunity to offer a fly tying and casting/fishing introduction to Sam’s youth group. This past Wednesday, Wayne Jordan and I met Sama...

  Costa Sunglasses made a big splash at IFTD/ICAST 2015, but their biggest statement came right at the start. Everyone entering the building crossed paths with this amazing sculpture. Besides the visual of a giant marlin, there is a lot more going on with this piece. The sculpture is made entirely of beach trash and was put on display to help promote the #kickplastic campaign. Check out this YouTube video to find out what washedashore is doing with ocean trash and how they are spreading the #kickplastic message. I’d like to thank Costa Sunglasses for putting this out there and for working to make positive changes in their business practices. We really need a clean ocean. Beyond recreational fishing, it’s really important to life. @costasunglasses #kickplastic  

The Dali Lama has been one of my favorite streamers. I've used it for steelhead, trout and bass with great results. My variation here, the Mini BDL, uses a little red mixed in and in a smaller size. Swing it with a spey rod or use a streamer rod and strip it in. The olive and white version has worked the best but I've had good results on other color combinations. Have fun. Keith Materials Needed: Ultra Thread 140 Olive #6 Gamakatsu SL11-3H hook #4 Owner Octopus hook Fireline 30# Brass Cone Head, #medium Nickle Lead Free Round Wire #.025 Rabbit Strips, Olive Variant and White Guinea Hackle, Fluorescent Cherry Red Krinkle Mirror Flash, Pearl Flashabou, Red  

What is the old saying- "If you can't do it, blog about it?" There's not too many things in life that I am good at, but I like to think I am pretty good at eating food. Now, if only I could cook. My culinary ability rests somewhere between burning box mac and cheese and barbecuing some decent steaks. I have even burned hotdogs on the grill; it wasn't my proudest moment. The good news, I have not yet burned down my house. Plus, I make a pretty mean bowl of cold cereal.  All of that being said, I do love food. I think it is my creative side that really connects with the artistry in good cooking (or just my inner fat kid). I enjoy everything from the composition of a plate to a unique combination of flavors. I have had the pleasure of eating at some fancy places and some pretty fantastic dives across the northwest. I love to try new restau...

We are excited to have finished our expansion out at the Coeur d'Alene North 40 Outfitters. You can expect big things from our crew out there. We are proud to introduce some of the people who will be working behind the scenes to keep our customers happy. Renee, Apparel Lead What's new after the CDA expansion? "Well now that we will have 2X the floor space allocated to clothing, we are all really excited. I am especially excited about the high-tech brands we are getting in like Patagonia, Pistil and Mountain Hardware to name a few we've had many, many people come in asking us to expand our selection to match that of the Ponderay store- So now I am excited to be able to tell them, 'Here you go!' But what's cool is that with the expansion we have even more products available on the floor than Ponderay." Do you have anything to say to our mo...

I have found this fly to produce well early and late evening when caddis hatches are expected to occur. I like B.S. primarily in a size 10 because the fly makes a statement with each cast. Also, I believe a fly of that size grabs the attention of all neighboring trout sitting in a hole. The story behind this fly is I was fishing the Madison River one afternoon when I snagged my fly on a partly submerged stick. I decided to try and save my fly, so I waded out to unhook it. When I was unhooking my fly, I noticed there was another fly below mine on the stick. I unhooked both flies, and retied the newly found fly once I went home with my own materials. The next evening, I caught several sizeable trout on this new dry fly, and from then on, I knew this fly was a must for my fly box. Materials: -#10 Dai-Riki dry fly hook -Yellow Thread -Grizzl...

Driving down a dirt road, sporadic open pasture between aspen groves and pine trees, rain coming down at a steady fall, I already had a good feeling about where we were going. We were still in the early hours of morning just east of Bozeman, MT and on a mission to pick up new display fixtures for the N40 Lewiston Fly Shop. The morning had started off with concern but sometimes luck has a funny way of showing itself. We awoke that morning to heavy rain and a rental pickup with no topper, so the thought of buying a tarp from our competition wasn’t sitting well. Fortunately Wayne Wike just happened to be in town- with his suburban. So after a brief but delicious morning meet at Sobe’s (providing rocket fuel in the form of huevos rancheros and breakfast burritos) we not only commandeered a solution to keeping our fly shop displays dry, b...

When I stepped out of the airport in Orlando for the IFTD/ICAST retailer show and got hit by that hot moist air, it made me think of tarpon fishing. When you are in Florida, fly fishing often involves tarpon. It always has for me. In Michigan and Montana, Brown Trout, especially large ones, are considered the grail for many fly fishers. Derek DeYoung is an artist with roots in Montana, Michigan and like many of us, he’s got a fly fishing passion for Florida and the salt. Creating the brown tarpon was a brilliant idea for getting noticed by everyone who fly fishes. I doubt anyone who walked the floors during the show failed to notice it. DeYoung also took home an award from the show. Gift Item: DeYoung Studio: DeYoung Saltwater Pilsner Congratulations Derek.