I started fly fishing at a young age. With a few silver spoon exceptions, teenage anglers generally share a particular trait while on the water: Don’t lose a fly, at any cost. This means that sleeves get rolled up to the shoulder to pry a streamer from a log at the bottom of the stream. …
I was about one hundred and fifty words in. The article was taking form. There were some decently composed sentences, attention-grabbing quips, and plenty of snark. I was writing a piece on the grumps and eye-roll inducing members of the fly fishing public. Well, another piece. My change of heart and plans wasn’t for lack …
Fly fishers can appreciate the necessity of the darkness that comes before the light. It allows for rest. We can regroup, recalibrate, and renew ourselves for another day on the water. The night prevents fishing, but provides these important things. It allows for reflection. A bad day can be, to a certain extent, mitigated by …
I’m not in the business of looking a gift trout in the mouth. I’ve learned my lesson. There was a time when I lived within a few minutes’ drive of some of the best spring creek and mountain trout fishing in the mid-Atlantic. And I pined for more solitude. A hundred yards to myself wasn’t …
I’ve always enjoyed fishing small streams. Along with so many other anglers, the intimacy of little creeks is enticing for so many reasons: the remote locations they are often found in, the solitude that they afford, and quite frequently, the wild trout that they contain. The trout are, of course, the focus. But unlike larger …
There are a few moments in fly fishing that exist crystallized in your mind. A first fish, a large trout sipping a dry fly, a trophy tarpon. These events stick with us as anglers for a lifetime. They find their way into our subconscious, rising up from the depths as we warmly regard times on …
I grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago. Fishing consisted of bait under a bobber for whatever happened to be nearby. I can’t remember a point in my childhood where I became aware of fly fishing. There really wasn’t any reason for me to. No fisheries capable of sustaining trout longer than the cooler …
For conservation minded anglers, one of the highest priorities involves ensuring a sustainable resource. Clean water, protected habitats, and reproducing trout populations are realities that individuals and groups strive to see on their home waters. As vital as issues like these are, the fact of the matter is that there is another priority that is …
This may very well be where I caught my first fish. Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, I wasn’t necessarily born into a hotbed of angling. My family wasn’t a fly fishing family. However, like so many kids in middle America, my dad and grandpa did take me fishing. And this might have been that …
Today I’m traveling and working on some exciting content. Casting Across has been up and running for nearly half of a year, and I have been loving every minute of the writing, conversations, and fishing that has taken place because of it. Thank you for reading, whether you’re here for the first time or you’re …
