Cooped up in the back of the pickup the dogs were restless. They had been let out a few times between stalks, but mostly it had been a long ride. Antelope were the top priority. The dogs and a chance to look for sage grouse were a distant second. By mid afternoon we were, Read More
“Is the otter awake Dada?” asked my four year old, sleepy eyed and soft as he strolled onto the little sand beach. He’d silently navigated fifty yards of forest between the tent and me, and materialized at the tree line as casual and unaffected as he would have in our kitchen back home. “Good, Read More
We were a couple hours into a five day river trip when the current grabbed his rod and pulled under. I looked behind the boat just in time to see it sink to the bottom. There would be no recovery.
“Not a chance” I told my wife, when first approached with the idea. Born and raised on a Montana ranch, I wouldn’t be caught dead with a bunch of camelids. But with two small children and a wife who is highly persuasive my bravado quickly waned. Three years ago we embarked on our first, Read More
We wanted to get out of town. Even if just for a night, an evening of camping would do us all good. While snow was melting and beginning to loosen it’s grip on the high country many of our favorite spots were still inaccessible. Rumors of a perfect brook trout stream, nestled in a seldom visited, Read More
Bait Fish (n) – An individual animal from any of the numerous small coastal ichthyological species (typically of the taxonomical class Osteichthyes) which when netted early (often on the first furtive stab) of a lengthy expedition induces in its captor a certain wide-eyed wonder, chest puffing strut, and incessant retelling of conquest. The name is believed, Read More
“Dada, Dada I got a big, BIG one! Look!” “Sweet. Don’t lose him.” “The red breasted robin wants to eat him, but I won’t let him cause it’s mine and the trout’s gonna eat him when we CATCH it and he must be real yummy cause everyone wants to eat him cause see Dada?”, Read More
“Alright Bud, pick a winner,” I said. Despite George Daniel’s best efforts, I often shoot from the hip when selecting nymphs. I have a handful of go-tos for each of my home waters, but once they’re exhausted, so too are my ideas. Sure, I roll rocks and I reason backwards from recent hatches, but, Read More
“Dada Dada there’s um… there’s um… you have a dragonfly on you!” announced my four year old as though I’d won the lottery. “Coooooool,” I said, humoring him but not bothering to look. I know better than to take my eyes off a half-tied blood knot. “Yep, on your special wader pants that give, Read More
I’m not sure which was more embarrassing, tethering some red string to a hook and calling it “fly tying” or resorting to the worm and calling it “angling”.