Welcome to the
River Dog Fly Shop

Nymphing For Large Trout

We have some great nymphing rods by Orvis and Douglas, 10' rods in 4wt, 5wt, 6wt, 7wt and 8wt are absolutly the ticket for dead drifting your weighted nymphs or swing streamers for big browns and rainbows. Jim has been busy tying up his favorite patterns for both local streams and for steelhead on the Catt and 18 Mile. We also have lots of flurocarbon leaders and tippet material in stock to fish down and dirty!

Also stay tuned for announcments of dates for our Leaf River, Nunavik and Patagonia, Argentina trips in 2027. Don’t miss out on either of these great trips! Contact Indrek at the River Dog Fly Shop to see how you can sign up!

Join the Houghton Fly Fishing Club to save 10% of all in stock merchandise and even bigger savings on our club trips. HFFC T-shirts are in, come by to pick yours up or join the club and get your free one!

Join the HFFC as we go back to the Leaf River Estuary Lodge 2026!

The advantage of fishing the estuary compared to the fresh-water section of the Leaf River is that the Arctic char, the Atlantic salmon and the sea-run speckled trout feed vigorously there on the abundant shrimp and small baitfish.

The char and salmon are strong swimmers and can readily avoid predation by the seals and beluga whales that enter the estuary. For this reason, char and salmon are generally caught in deeper water via fishing from a drifting boat. Flocks of gulls that hover above the feeding char give a clear indication of productive locations. Char will also come into shallow water at high tide in pursuit of prey, in which case shore fishing is highly productive.

The large sea-run trout in the estuary tend to hide close to rocks and are best caught at low tide. A fly that is particularly effective is the woolly bugger, which provides a good imitation of shrimp and readily fools the trout and char. Trout can also be caught on surface flies at low tide among the rocks at the edge of the estuary channel.

The estuary of the Leaf River is located between a large waterfall (about 10 meters high) located at approximately 58 deg. 47' N, 70 deg. 15' W and a minor waterfall at 58 deg. 47' N, 70 deg. 4' W. Above the large falls is the Leaf River, which is pure fresh water; below the falls the water is brackish with the salinity that depends on the tidal phase. The minor falls pokes above the water surface only in the final quarter phase of tidal swing. At the maximum tide the large falls disappears enabling one to boat directly from the estuary to the fresh water river without encountering any rapids. In August, seals and beluga whales swim up into the fresh water river chasing char and salmon in their annual migration. Beluga have been seen over 10 km upstream. Fresh-water seals inhabit the river and the headwaters at Lake Minto, 200 miles upstream. In addition to the Leaf River, three streams contribute fresh water to the estuary.

Visit our River Dog Fine Art Gallery

Shop Packs & Gear	Shop Fine Fly Rods
Shop Marttiini Knives	Shop Buck Knives
Shop DVDs	Shop Books
Shop Gifts	Shop T-Shirts
Shop for Sporting Dogs	Enroll in Fly Schools