A good friend and mentor often says ‘life is best when it’s pointedly simple’. He’s an intrepid fly fisher who has gone back to fishing only his own flies using fiberglass rods and he swears he’s having more fun chasing brookies and panfish that tarpon in Belize. Though he’s one of those business people who […]
Why I Fish
Early morning Madison river, Yellowstone National Park. Jake and I were in the Park working on a project early one August morning. It was damned chilly under the Big Sky (actually Wyoming’s) early that day. We’d stopped at the Exxon on the west end of Main in Bozeman a few hours before and were told […]
My dad taught me how to cast–Maclean style on the back lawn. He taught me how to tie my first fly–a woolly worm. We’ve spent time on rivers and lakes and in cars and trucks traveling to and from those places. I believe those moments can’t be obtained in other ways, not exactly. Something about […]
Without a doubt there’s nothing quite like stealing an hour or two on your ‘home water’. For some fishers ‘home water’ is that eminently fishable creek or pond right in the neighborhood that no one writes about – hell, maybe no one even talks about it. But it’s good for a few palm-sized brookies, browns […]
The setting: Green River, Utah, the honey stretch just below Flaming Gorge. Weekday (translate very little traffic) on a drop-dead-gorgeous, late-May afternoon. In my red wooden drifter, roughly half way from the dam to Little Hole. The characters: JW, my early fly fishing mentor, myself and CH, son of a friend. CH was a gangly, […]
My first fly fishing mentor (JW) was probably still to this day the best dead-drift nympher I’ve ever seen in action. He was unimaginably patient, quiet by nature and taught me right off the bat how to prospect for values in what some might consider to be an expensive hobby. He was, however, a strict […]
I like the way the river smells. Unless you’ve been out on the water on a warm, late-summer afternoon, after enduring a long, cold and sterile winter, you probably don’t have an inkling of what I’m talking about. If you close your eyes, take a long, deep breath, and drink it all in – you […]
As a fly fisherman I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time stumbling in, around, over and through freestone cricks, creeks, streams and rivers. My carp chasing, rough fish adoring friends derisively label me a dyed-in-the-wool blue-liner. While that label fits like a well-worn pair of scuffed-up Merrill mocs, the lure of the ‘big blue’ waters […]
I suppose one could say the same of small children, cats, mechanics and kleptomaniacs. Like most fly fishermen, I’m devotedly attached to a handful of small, shiny otherwise obscure fly fishing gear. Granted, after falling victim to the piles of stuff foisted on neophytes by silver-tongued fly shop masters, my assemblage of essential gear has […]
Been thinking a lot about high summer lately. One of those summer treasures I tend to miss this time of year is the lure of the open road. I’m not talking about crowded interstates with bumper to bumper traffic or highways choked with gut-wrenching chain eateries and truck stops lit so brightly you can see […]
I like the places water goes. I’ve been lucky enough to stay off of a plane for several months now, though there is something fascinating to ponder as one jets from one airport beehive to another. From 30,000 feet it only takes a smidgen of watchful imagination to see how water has shaped and formed […]
Ok, I know most of what a trout eats is roughly 3/8 of an inch long and a dark, muddy brown, black or green. The subtle iridescence of my favorite blue-winged olive soft hackle, particularly pondered while standing in prime water, say the Deschutes or Fire Hole, is bewitching. Classic salmon flies are drop-dead gorgeous […]
Water, moving water, especially water on a freestone creek or river – has long held deep fascination. Doesn’t matter if it’s a tiny upper Gallatin headwater crossable in a single stride or a wide shallow bend on the Missouri (like down around the Mountain Palace), the freestone waters of the mountain country are magical. Just […]
One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most about fly fishing over the years has been hanging with other fishers. Sure, fly fishing has its share of asshats, misanthropes, cynics and soreheads. But thankfully most fishers don’t fall into one of those categories. I’ve met many an amiable fly fisher while wandering various rivers, boat […]
Ah, the holiday season is upon us, ushering in a flurry of hustle and bustle with a big helping of food, friends and family. Ah, family time at the holidays. Long time readers might remember that She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO) and I (particularly I) have long been the black sheep of the family. […]
