DuPage Rivers Fly Tyers

DRiFT has a fun day out with the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County at their Just For Kids Fishing Derby! We tied flies with participants, taught some kids and adults to cast fly rods, and even got in on the official measuring of the fish!

Watching kids feel the tug on the line when a fish bites will never get old. But a new one is watching kids who are just learning how to cast a fly rod trying to break bubbles with the flies! They had a blast!

Let's hear your fishing stories! The rivers are in good shape and the fish are biting, both in our warm waters and in the cool streams of the Driftless.
Recently Pete found some cold water and some active fish! The bugs are thick and it's the perfect time to get out there. Pete says a dark caddis dry fly in #16- #18 worked really well!

It's been a fun week to be a DRiFT member! We had our end of the tying season pizza party with a lot of great door prizes, we had our largest turnout for our Casting on the Lawn at the Batavia VFW, Dennis keeps teasing us with pictures of fish from the Dupage River, and the best part was spending time fishing with our nations Veterans. You can't ask for a much better week than that!
And a huge shout-out to the wonderful employees at Ball Seed Company for raising money to help support our Veterans program!

What a great day to have a fly rod in hand!
DRiFT started our Summer fly casting program with a great turnout and our newest Certified Casting Instructor! Started off with some solid practice tips and some great foundational information. You all should really think about joining us on Saturday mornings!

And aside from the Fox River, many of our local waters are looking pretty good! Good enough for Dennis to paddle into a mess of nice smallmouth! Great job Dennis!

A group from DRiFT had a very fine time in the Driftless earlier this week. Yes there was driving rain, yes there was gusting winds, but yes, the guides from Black Earth Angling Co. got them out on some great water and some great trout (plus one interloper who wanted to get in on the action).

Dennis likes really simple flies. Tuesday he's going to demonstrate the Stupid Easy Streamer!

"This fly is about as simple as it gets. Stupid Simple. I wanted a simple streamer pattern that would keel properly in the water without going too deep and without floating (as do many over-dressed streamers). This pattern uses a small number of materials and has few steps to tie it. I've fished it in lakes and rivers with very good success over the past year or so. This is the kind of fly you can tie up a bunch in various color schemes to match your local baitfish and have time leftover to actually go fish them.

Tight Lines!"
-Dennis

Materials:

Hook: Umpqua 01, U502, Bass Straight Eye
Bead: Firehole Stones Neon Matte Tungsten Beads - 4.6mm (3/16") - Fl. Chartreuse
Thread (White): Danville Flat Waxed Nylon
Tail (WH): Hareline Select Craft Fur White xf 377
Body (WH): Flash Blend Baitfish Brush - Silver Scale White - 2 Inch
Lateral Lines: Lateral Scale - Pearl #1703
Eyes: Fish Skull Living Eyes - 6mm, Any Color
Head Resin: Loon UV Clear, thin, Squeeze Bottle with Tip

7pm to 9pm

College of Dupage
Room TEC-1038 B

It's Spring! So you know what that means? Trout and tornadoes!!! Our club president and his son scheduled a trout trip with PJ's Guide Service to fish the Driftless, but didn't realize they'd scheduled it right after (and just before) a severe tornado spawning storm hit the area. They saw a lot of blown-out water, but with PJ's local knowledge and pre-scouting, he got them on some water that couldn't have been better! Looks like they had a great trip!

Get out there and fish!

Join us Tuesday, April 14th, for a casual evening of tying and socializing!
Bring your tying tools and materials and refill your fly box, learn a new fly or get started on flies for the 2027 Tie-A-Thon!

Show up anytime after 6pm!

The Bubblehouse Brewing Co.
2121 Ogden Ave Unit A
Lisle, IL 60532

The wonderful people, amazing food, really nice weather and the facilities at the Izaak Walton League Lodge in South Bend Indiana could not have been better for hosting the 20th annual Tie-A-Thon culmination party!
It was really nice to look over the more than 40,000 flies that they've received this year and to be able to identify those tied by our fantastic group of DRiFT tyers! In these two images I can see flies by Meg, Mario, Doug, Ethan, Lou, Fred (easy to spot with the personalized Wheatley fly box!) and many others! Very proud to represent DRiFT and our efforts in supporting such a great cause.
In the photos you'll see Mark, but also Tim, one of the Tie-a-Thon founders with Mary, a Reel Recovery Indiana OG!!!
We can't wait to get started on next year's ties!