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The Steelhead With A Thousand Faces
Maybe if I take five more steps, throw one more mend, skate one more fly, a hero will appear, armored in chrome, and dance to the music of my singing reel.
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The Birth of A Fishing Town
Calf deep now in the cold river, Trent’s completed his prelude of silky false casts and is ready to start the show in earnest.
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In The End, Style Might Be All We Have
Over the course of 6 trips, in and out, and nearly 40 miles, I question whether or not it’s worth it.
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Banded
Folding neatly the greenhead splashed soundly onto the water. The old lady made quick work of the retrieve.
“So there I am,” said Jeremy, leaning across my kitchen table for emphasis “right above them on this hillside, maybe sixty yards away. They’re thrashing around in the brush. I can hear their antlers banging and clashing together. The wind was perfect, just like it had been all day. Then… ” Between birds, big, Read More
Hands down it’s the best time of year. So make the most of it. Chase elk, birds or go fishing. It’s hard to go wrong. Seek solitude by taking a solo hike with your bow. Load up the whole family and take advantage of some of the years best fishing. Cause a ruckus with, Read More
You left the house at 4 a.m. By 5 you were hiking through the frozen darkness. 6 found you prepared, your body and your gear positioned just so. The blackness is absolute, the limestone at your back cold and sharp. A favorable wind brings imagined smells to your nose, half-heard noises to your ears, Read More
Quivering uncontrollably, he lets out a barely audible, yet pathetic, squeal. Remaining steady by a whisker, I heave the bumper into the high mountain lake. Like a shot from a cannon, he releases on his name and begins churning water. We are long overdue. The dogs are perhaps as fit as I can remember for, Read More
The pack that hangs in my garage could be mistaken for a living thing. At first glance it’s just luggage stuffed with an assortment of other inanimate objects. A close observer though will notice that it’s constantly adapting to the demands of the season. Layers disappear and reappear with shifts in the weather., Read More
Sweat was beading on my brow. I was gasping for breath. Running up hill, I needed my iPhone. Fifty yards away I had the spotting scope set up. Binos were around my neck, so was the camera. A few hundred yards below were 300-400 head of elk. Cows and calves were mewing, the herd, Read More
Once, as a young boy, I asked my father to race me from his office to his car. The instant he said no, I was struck by a startling realization. Dad never ran, at least not spontaneously or without purpose. Nor for that matter did any of the grown-ups in my life. It, Read More
We all have our routines. Some consider those routines to be vices. Either way they are important. I’m a coffee drinker – not occasionally, not when I can get my hands on a cup, not if you happen to have it. Rather an every day, first thing in the morning coffee drinker. The black, Read More
The submerged root-ball looked like a horror movie prop. Its deepest mysteries were hidden in shadow, but what reached the light was pure menace. Meaty shrouds of river gunk waved from grabby tentacles over crevices pregnant with evil possibility. No one yelled “don’t go in there!”, and they didn’t need to. I knew I wanted, Read More
The sun had already dipped below the horizon as I opened the car door. Coaxing my legs out of the driver’s side, I inspected the feet that now seemed tenuously attached to them. They looked like hamburger. Blisters were solidifying on the toes and pads. Hitting pavement I gingerly shifted my weight. My stiffening legs, Read More