River Pattern Guide

Best Flies for John Day River

The John Day River is one of the last truly wild river systems in the American West — a 284-mile corridor cutting through the high desert and basalt canyons of north-central Oregon with no dams on its...

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12 recommended patterns

Streamer

Woolly Bugger

If you could only fish one fly for the rest of your life.

Sizes 2–10

Streamer

Sex Dungeon

Kelly Galloup's Sex Dungeon is a massive, articulated streamer designed to trigger predatory aggress

Sizes 2–6

Streamer

Zonker

The Zonker uses a rabbit strip tied over a Mylar tube body to create a baitfish imitation with incre

Sizes 4–10

Streamer

Muddler Minnow

Don Gapen's Muddler Minnow is one of fly fishing's most versatile patterns. Its spun deer hair head

Sizes 4–10

Streamer

Circus Peanut

Russ Maddin's Circus Peanut is a dual-articulated streamer with a peanut-shaped foam head that gives

Sizes 2–6

Streamer

Olive Woolly Bugger

The olive variant of the Woolly Bugger is specifically effective as a leech and damselfly nymph imit

Sizes 6–12

Streamer

Clouser Minnow (Trout)

Bob Clouser's iconic dumbbell-eyed minnow pattern, scaled down for trout water. The weighted eyes ma

Sizes 6–10

Streamer

Double Bunny

The Double Bunny uses two rabbit strips — one on top, one on the bottom of the hook — to create a wi

Sizes 2–8

Wet Fly

Carey Special

The Carey Special is a Pacific Northwest stillwater staple featuring a pheasant rump hackle that cre

Sizes 8–12

Streamer

Barely Legal

Kelly Galloup designed this articulated streamer to push water and create maximum vibration on the s

Sizes #2–#6

Streamer

Meat Whistle

A compact, heavily-weighted sculpin imitation that rides hook-point-up to bounce along rocky bottoms

Sizes #2–#6

Streamer

Home Invader

A long, articulated streamer built on a Fish Skull head that creates an exaggerated swimming action

Sizes #1/0–#4