Great teaching resource

How To Fly Fish With Wet Flies & Nymphs -- Orvis

Above is a great resource for learning how to fly fish with nymphs and/or wet flies.

Robbers Cave Trout...

Robbers Cave trout ripe for the grill, when you find them

Wild Brown

My Goto Flies

When fishing in Oklahoma, no matter where....Lower Illinois, Blue River, Lower Mountain Fork....I have several flies that are the key goto's and that routinely stay stocked within my box.

1. Bead Head Gold Ribbed Hares Ear - both in natural and olive green (the latter more lovingly known as a Beavers Bend special).   I seem to go thru more 14 and 16s in these.

2. Woolly Bugger - Whether they be Black, Olive, Brown, Rust or White these seem to be able to draw strikes when nothing else is working...key is get deep and work it slow...10s and 12s usually do the trick.

3. Pheasant Tail - another key goto pattern while similar to the hares ear...just pulls hits when the others aren't working.  14s-20s seem to work here.

4. Parachute Adams/Adams Dries - when they are sipping the surface and the hatch is on these seem to catch a majority of the action for me. 14s - 20s have worked for me.

5.  Midges - various flavors and colors, used on their own or as a dropper are almost always a hit.  The smaller the better seem to do the trick.

6. Scud - gray or olive have worked for me 18s - 20s get replenished the most.

7. Prince - certain days at the Lower Illinois, this was the only fly that could entice a strike 14s - 16s are the sizes i have to order the most.

8. San Juan worms...Red and Brown usually with a bead, larger the better usually use these with faster flows and deeper water and gives a larger target.

I have various and sundry other flies, however these are the ones that get replenished most in my fly box.  I also plan on trying some soft hackle wet flies this year.  Will be good as i just never have tried them.

Illinois River Fly Fishing School set for Feb. 19-20

Enrollment is underway for the Illinois River Fly Fishing School, which has become one of the most popular fishing education workshops held each year in Oklahoma. The 2016 session will be Feb. 19-20 at Tenkiller State Park and on the banks of the Illinois River.

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Product is not the only success, process is often as fulfilling

I am an outdoorsman, I love the outdoors, I love being out in  a nice fluffy snow waiting on a Whitetail to cross in front of my stand, I love standing in the stream on a cool spring morning teasing the stocker rainbows at my local stream.  I dream of chasing cutthroats in Wyoming and pursuing a 6x6 Bull Elk in the Colorado high country and the dreams are I believe part of what makes my being an outdoorsman so fulfilling.  I generally do not have any success on stream unless i prepare my flies beforehand, unless I stretch my fly line and tie my leaders just right.  I sit at home and practice tying knots while watching people I do not know pursue game on the TV and dutifully polish and clean my black powder gun more than I shoot it.  I cannot have a successful deer season without preparation, scouting and preparation of stand locations, obtaining the right clothing and making sure it is rid of scent and folded neatly and packed in sealed bags waiting to be unveiled when i get into stand.  Practicing a 300 yard shot with my 30-06 and a 60 yard shot with my bow I strive to be prepared for all and any eventuality.  When at last I connect on the nice wide 8-pointer with bullet or arrow and when I at last bring that trout to hand, the satisfaction I feel is not only in that moment but bundled in all the moments spent preparing for that particular day.  I am an outdoorsman, process outshines product many times over.

Upcoming Lower Illinois River Fly Fishing Related Activities

Passing on some useful information

Meet TV host Don Wallace, Oklahoman Outdoors Editor Ed Godfrey at H&H Shooting Sports Complex

Learn to fly fish

The annual Illinois River Fly Fishing School will be Feb. 24-25 at Tenkiller State Park.

Instructors Mark Patton and Tom Adams will be teaching about equipment and flies in a classroom setting and then giving casting instruction on the banks of the Illinois River.

Cost of the course is $150. Call 340-1992 for more information.

Clean up the Lower Illinois

The 89er Chapter of Trout Unlimited in Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma Chapter of Trout Unlimited in Tulsa are combining forces to clean up the Lower Illinois River.

On Dec. 10, members of the state's two Trout Unlimited chapters will walk the banks of the Lower Illinois to pick up trash and debris. The cleanup is scheduled from 9 a.m. until noon.

Volunteers interested in helping should meet at the dam access parking lot at 9 a.m. The 89er Chapter of Trout Unlimited will be providing lunch to volunteers.

Anyone planning to participate is asked to email troutbum@89er.org. For more information, call Greg Mann at 401-3784 or Chuck Kaminski at 973-4571.