Greg Thomas

Spring's Glory Hatch is the Skwala Stonefly, but the March Brown Drake could be your big winner. Greg Thomas shares the secrets to timing the spring hatch, what to throw, and how to be successful during pre-run off in the northern Rockies.

In his words: Phil Rowley's must-have Spring stillwater fly patterns. To avoid the skunk, Phil doesn't leave the house without these bugs. 

Kelly Galloup's Sex Dungeon streamer is one of the most effective flies on Western rivers. The Mini and Micro Dungeon versions are especially effective on native cutthroat waters, but they'll take big fish just about anywhere. Just ask Galloup.

If you want to fill your fly boxes with traditional No-Hackles, you may be in for a surprise—those flies require patience to master, and even the typically mild-spoken east Idaho legend Mike Lawson calls them, “a real bitch” to learn to tie.

All flies have a story to tell and this particular fly, the Airhead, partially tells the story of Gary LaFontaine and his battles with the terminal illness ALS. In addition, this story tells how some flies can bring people together, even fathers and daughters who have dealt with the ups and downs of parenthood and the teenage years.

Author Greg Thomas visits Montana's Bighorn River and finds a wad of brown and rainbow trout on a three-day streamer eat. He also finds a bunch of dead waterfowl, spurring thoughts of covid and avian flu.

Author Greg Thomas joins steelhead guru Jeff Hickman on the Oregon Coast where they fish through a deluge and end up beacing three wild steelhead and debate the merits of hatchery versus native fish.

Whether searching for a gift, or just adding to your angling library Hogan’s A Passion For Steelhead is sort of a must-have, especially if you live and fish in the Pacific Northwest. Hogan lived the life, fished the rivers, caught the fish, and has a unique ability to teach, whether you’re standing next to him in the water, or simply taking an afternoon or evening to read his words. No matter how experienced you are with steelhead, this book will enhance your skills and give you an opportunity to keep dreaming.

House of Fly's Missouri River Trout Spey Camp offers an opportunity to learn all things trout spey from one of the Missouri River's absolute trout spey gurus, Mr. Fred Telleen. And, you just might put the biggest brown trout of your life in the bottom of the net.

Truth is, steelhead do take during the middle of the day, in bright sun, but you probably won’t raise one to the surface at that time. Instead, these fish find deep runs, slots, chutes, and plunge pools and hold close to bottom. You can also find summer steelhead holding in the shadows that ledge-rock provides . . . and you’ll find plenty of that shadowy ledge-rock on Idaho’s Clearwater River, Oregon’s Deschutes and North Umpqua rivers, and Washington’s Klickitat, among others.

Doomscrolling on social media can diminish our own experiences, but only if we allow it to. Take time, at least every once in a while, to consider how fortunate each of us has been in our angling careers.

A 9-foot 5-weight is the ideal western trout rod and I can’t disagree; it serves equally well for bass, yellow perch bluegill and crappie. I consider it to be the most versatile stick a fledgling western flyfisher could own.