Fly Fishing Pursuits

Pursuing the passion of fly fishing!

May 16, 2012
by Mary Ann Dozer
0 comments

Another day on the McKenzie River

After enduring rain for most of March and April – May has brought us plenty of sunny and warm weather. It has been splendid to be on the McKenzie River – multiple times in the last week. As you can see spring is here – the trees are abundant with leaves and blue skies with the occasional cloud.

A splendid sunny day on the McKenzie River

With all this warm weather – one would expect lots of bug activity on the surface. This hasn’t been the case on the McKenzie. Although the occasional fish will come and look at the indicator – nymphing is still the most productive method to hook a McKenzie Red Side. And there are some nice sized rainbows on the McKenzie and they still continue to take the Mega Prince! We have also had success fishing soft hackles.

A mongo of a rainbow - on a mega prince

If you haven’t gotten out in this sunshine to fish – get out this weekend – as weather prediction says we should see some showers next week.

April 29, 2012
by Mary Ann Dozer
0 comments

McKenzie River – Fly Fishing

Dave and I floated the McKenzie River last Sunday. It was a beautiful sunny day. We only saw a few bugs – no surface activity to speak of. We fished a mega prince and double beaded stone – the entire day. Lots of fish on both flies – check out the nice McKenzie rainbow that Dave landed early in the day on his bamboo rod.

A nice fish at the start of the day

A closer look at a beauty of a McKenzie River Red Side Rainbow

And if you enjoy watching fish being caught – take the time and watch the video! Play close attention to Dave playing and landing his larger fish – it is a great example of fighting a fish on the reel and on the line.

April 21, 2012
by Mary Ann Dozer
3 Comments

Stone Fly Maidens Fly Fishing at Roaring Spring Take 2

Man I love my job. But if you love your job – can your really call it a job? I must say I am blessed to be able to share my passion and knowledge of fly fishing. This Saturday I was at Roaring Springs Trout Camp with a great set of StoneFly Maiden members. Again the weather cooperated – and the fish, well we landed a good number of fish —- however, many fish got the better of each of us. But you know – all of us had a great time and a lot was learned. I must say I probably had the most fun – as nothing is more fun than experiencing landing fish with a determined and enthusiastic angler. Although the fish would say they won the game, every angler had a unique style and yes every angler landed a great fish. I have to compliment Cynthia and Debbie for landing a fish on the shelter pond – all on their own – as Deb, Mary and I chased the elusive fish in the cabin pond. My hats off to all the fly fishing anglers today – I loved all the positive attitudes and most importantly the intentions for learning and becoming better anglers. Hat’s off to each of every one of your ladies. Enjoy your catches of the day!

A team effort on the first catch of the day!

Cynthia - set the pace of the day and landed this nice fish!

/>

Yes - Cynthia is showing the joy of landed a nice sized rainbow

A well earned bend in the rod and well earned fish

Congratulations Deb! A beauty of a rainbow trout

Mary and her wide bodied rainbow - that fish sure has been eating well!

Debbie's catch of the day

Can you count the number of rods? Yes you can never had too many rods!

April 16, 2012
by Mary Ann Dozer
0 comments

McKenzie River Fly Fishing – Early April

Early spring in the Mid-Willamette Valley always brings unpredictability – so when the weather and water levels cooperated this last week, I took advantage of it! In the last 8 days, I floated the river 4 of those days. Yes – very lucky for me! Other than this past Sunday, April 15, the river was high and fast, but it still produced some fish. On Sunday, the 8th, the weather sparked a phenomenal grannom caddis hatch –videotaped it. The video tape won’t win an academy award – but it does show how thick the grannom hatch on the McKenzie can be. Enjoy the video!

On each of the floats there were sporadic fish feeding on the surface. Most of these were smaller fish, and we picked up several swinging dark colored #16 soft hackles. We had our best success for the McKenzie red-sides subsurface. Flies that produced fish were the mega prince, golden stone, possie buggers, and caddis pupa. The following video shows a few fish caught on the Bellinger to Hayden run. I floated this on Tuesday with Lou Verdugo and then Sunday, with Dave Dozer. As you watch the video you will notice that we were fishing a switch rod. It was the Reddington CPX 10.5 foot 5 wt. I enjoyed casting and fishing this rod. I loved how I could easily mend the line and had the extra length to manage more line. It took a little while to get used to landing the a fish with the longer stick – but the ability to manage the line outweighed the challenge of managing the fish. Enjoy the video!

April 14, 2012
by Mary Ann Dozer
1 Comment

Stone Fly Maiden’s Women Fly Fishing Class at Roaring Springs

Oh – finally a sunny day in the Mid- Willamette Valley. The day started out cloudy and cool but ended up sunny and warm. I was glad the weather cooperated for a Stone Fly Maiden’s womens’ fly fishing class at Roaring Springs Trout Camp. I know I had a great time and enjoyed sharing my passion and knowledge for fly fishing with Amada, Cece, Judy, and Kathy. We fished a variety of flies and quickly learned the fish were picky today on what flies they were willing to take. Successful patterns were a black krystal flash woolly bugger, grey leach, sno-cone chironomid, prince nymph, and yes….. an egg pattern. Enjoy the rainbows we were able to entice to take a fly! After setting the hook – all these fish were great fighters giving each angler multiple runs and most importantly the real-time experience of landing a nice sized rainbow. Thanks women for a great day on the water.

Judy had the first big catch of the day.

Amanda and her rainbow - part of the double hook-up at Roaring Springs

Kathi's Roaring Springs Rainbow - the other part of the double hook-up

Cece's patience for fly fishing paid off with this nice rainbow!

Check out - spots on this rainbow trout

April 2, 2012
by Mary Ann Dozer
0 comments

Salmon River – Fly Fishing

Our wet spring this year is definitely reducing the time anyone can get on the water to fish! I know I am yearning to get my boat on the McKenzie River to row and fish. The last two weeks of rain has resulted in just a lot of swollen rivers. As a way to get my ” fly fishing fix” I pulled out a few videos from the summer of 2011 and integrated them into a short video Floating on the Salmon River. Watching the video with all sun, no clouds, and crystal clear water just make me want this Oregon Spring to turn sunny!

February 29, 2012
by Mary Ann Dozer
2 Comments

McKenzie River Rainbow

On Monday, I floated the McKenzie River with Wes and Spencer. I had a great time with the guys – couldn’t have been with a better bunch of anglers. We definitely chose the right day to fish –as it was sunny but cold on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday we have seen snowflakes in Corvallis.
The weather and water were cold – so we didn’t see a lot of action. There was a small BWO hatch that happened around 2:00 – but we didn’t see any rising fish. We tried dries – no luck! We did get a few nice grabs swinging streamers. The fish landed were dead drifting nypmphs – a 20 incher bead head and Dave’s custom Bishop Nymph. My fish landed was a beauty – lots of red to match my finger nails! I was fishing Wes’s 590 TCX. So yes – it was Dave’s fly, Wes’s rod, Spencer netted the fish for me – but I can say it was my boat we floated and my fish! It was a beauty! Check out the red. Thanks to Wes and Spencer for sharing that great fish with me.

Check on the red in the fish and my nails!

Beautiful Rainbow on the McKenzie

February 21, 2012
by Mary Ann Dozer
0 comments

Fly Fishing the McKenzie River with a Bamboo Fly Rod

Dave and I floated the McKenzie River a few days ago. This is becoming our annual trip – as we celebrate our anniversary in early February. It was really great to get the drift boat out on the river again. We had a wonderful sunny day…not always the best for trout fishing. We didn’t see a single adult bug all day so we drifted nymphs under indicators. Dave took out a 7 1/2′ 5 wt bamboo rod that worked well in the drift boat and I did the rowing. Somehow, I think he got the better end of that deal! We didn’t have a tremendous amount of action, but we did wake up a few fish. As you watch the video – in addition to seeing a missed fish and then landing a trout, take notice of Dave’s presentation technique. The video does a great job of showing the technique of “fishing to the future” that is casting forward of the boat. And then as the line catches up, mending the line to keep the fly and indicator floating at the pace of the water. Enjoy!

February 9, 2012
by Mary Ann Dozer
0 comments

Spey Casting Tip – “Flip the Tip Exercise”

Switch and two hand rods are a blast to cast and fish. The longer rod and spey casts allow an angler to cast a lot of line in a tight space. The real value of the longer rod is achieved when the angler has the bottom hand applying the effort and the top hand guiding. Many times the muscle memory from single hand takes over and the angler “over uses” the top hand and the bottom hand is not applying effort. When the angler learns to engage the bottom hand, then the full value of the longer rod is realized – resulting in casting more lines with less effort. There is a drill called “flip the tip” that trains the bottom hand to engage in the cast. Doing this drill 15 minutes once a day for 10 days will train the bottom hand and un-do the muscle memory. You can watch the following video as Dwight Klemin demonstrates the “flip the tip” exercise.

Are you interested in learning or improving your spey casting? then join George Cook, Dwight Klemin, and Mary Ann Dozer as they teach the following:

SPEY CASTING CLINIC MARCH 4, 8:30AM TO 4:30PM Bryant Park, Albany Oregon

To register for the class, call BackCountry Fly Shop 541-230-1706 or order on-line.

February 5, 2012
by Mary Ann Dozer
0 comments

NW Fly Fishing Expo March 11th and 12th, 2012

NW Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo: Sign up for Classes!

The 2012 Northwest Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo is set for March 9 & 10 at the Linn County Expo Center in Albany, Oregon. The Expo Education team has been busy getting class material and instructors ready for another round of great classes from fly tying, still water strategies, to spey casting. Check out the class section on the the expo web site. There is a limited number of spaces in each class, so sign up early!

I am proud to say that, once again Dave and I will be teaching at the Expo. I will be teaching Intermediate Fly Casting Friday at 12:15 and Casting Doctor Friday at 2:00pm. Dave and I will be teaching our EuroNymphing Class on Saturday at 9:00am.

We have a booth for Bamboo Pursuits, come by and try out a few bamboo rods. Our booth is on the casting pond! Can’t miss us!