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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.
“Hey Dada look, a exoskeleton!” said my four year old, thigh deep in the river, pointing to a stonefly husk on a midstream boulder. “Seriously?” I asked, incredulous. “Of course, it’s from the molting, cause see,” he continued quite conversationally. “Did you actually just drop exoskeleton… and molting in casual conversation? Who’s kid are, Read More
I’m not ready to concede the cliche “it’s the journey not the destination that matters” is true in all cases. I’m usually headed somewhere for a reason, so to say it simply doesn’t matter seems overstated. Generally speaking though it’s a good axiom for life; a metaphor that you can tip your hat to, Read More
It’s a ghost town; a scene from the twilight zone. The riffles babble and splash, pools flood the bends, soft water lurks behind rocks and foam spins in the eddies, but the river is abandoned. No signs of life. Nobody home. It must be an illusion, maybe a misunderstanding. Has to be. The water, Read More
Summer is in full swing. Runoff is over and water is shaping up in most parts of the country. Early morning tricos, attractor dries and hoppers will be the name of the game for the rest of the season. In short it’s a good time to be fishing. But something else is afoot. I stopped, Read More
My four-year-old son has a lot to learn. Teamwork, self reliance, judgment and decision making, risk management, delayed gratification, initiative, critical thinking, loyalty, faith… the list of skills that’ll he need to make his way in the world goes on and on. It’s an overwhelming educational endeavor, before you even consider all the straight-up, Read More
A day to relax and log some couch time sounded appealing. Fresh off a river trip, we were visiting my folks and they had taken the kids out for the day. I was tired and it would be a treat to have my parents house to myself for a few hours. Then the phone rang. A buddy, Read More
You don’t ask about them in polite company, not directly. Bustling barroom chatter falls silent at their mention. A clumsily cast question will land flinty stares and a second will get you shown the door. In a culture – hunters and anglers – that is notoriously tight lipped about its honey-holes… “He’s a beaut, 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.
They are the gullible rubes of the trout family; the hayseeds, hicks, hillbillies, yokels, rustics, provincials, buffoons, bumpkins, country cousins and clodhoppers. Mountain cutthroat, convention holds, are so unsophisticated that even novice anglers had better brace for action. Why then were they giving four capable fishermen fits? “Riser. Four o’clock. About 10 feet further,”, Read More
“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