William Lovelace - My Doubles for the Rogue River

Steve's dream of lifetime trip on the Grand Ronde river told so well in the recent article (Fly Fishing the Grande Ronde with Dennis Dickson) on Salmonfly.net made me think of one of the rivers that I dream to fish and that is the Rogue. The Rogue River also brings to mind one of the few areas in the NW where flies on double hooks are still commonly in use. I also had the opportunity to visit  a couple of London Fly Shops this spring and it is very evident that Double and Trebles for Salmon are still very popular in the waters of England, Scotland, and Ireland.  Iceland and Scandinavia also count a number of multiple point hooks in the tying literature. Here in this country tube flies are often used with multiple point hooks. A renewal of interest in flies from across the waters is nothing new in the NW. Many of us have a love for Spey flies that were really reborn here in the NW waters. Who among us on the pages doesn't admire the Steelhead revolution started by Sid Glasso and others like him. A modern rebirth with a similar following has happened with many of the Shrimp patterns. Alastair Gowan brought us Ally's Shrimp in it's several variations which has again popularized many of the traditional patterns like the Usk Grub, General Practitioner and many others. The GP was a fly of the week pattern recently on another NW Forum-Westfly.

I thought it was about time that I gave a serious look at fishing doubles for myself. Here are the flies that are in my Rogue dream box and one that I will use on other rivers when I want the double to help get my fly down through the flows. I really want to see how they have that upright in the water keel effect compared to a similar hairwing on a single point hook. I often have experimental flies in my boxes. I even keep an X-box in my trout vest for testing new patterns or new materials. In this case the flies are all proven patterns either here or in Europe but it is the box of Doubles that I want to experiment with here in the NW.

Besides the bins at Farlows of Pall Mall in London, a couple of my library books were of great help in deciding what I wanted to tie in filling my box of doubles. I mainly used: Hairwing & Tube Flies for Salmon & Steelhead By Chris Mann and Shrimp & Spey Flies for Salmon & Steelhead by Chris Mann and Robert Gillespie.

To see the flies in Bill's Spade,  Blonde, Clouser,  Pink, and Tube Fly series and other William Lovelace flies, visit

The Flies Of William Lovelace

"What Can I Say About These Blondes"

"A Day on Puget Sound, Sea-Run Cutthroat, and Salt Water Flies"

"Favorite Flies for Pink Salmon"

Tube Flies on a Tube Steak Budget!

Favorite Flies, Fly Shops, and Rivers

The Electric Soft Hackle