Stop! Before you start copying and pasting Amazon links and fly shop web pages, hear me out. It is wish list season. The holidays are approaching. Christmas music and decor are taking over like some abominable mistletoe/tinsel/kudzu hybrid. Everyone from your spouse to your parents to your kids to your aunt Myrtle wants to know …
Trout are creatures with paper-thin fins and gossamer bones. Their optimal temperature and dissolved oxygen thresholds are relatively narrow. Touching their scales with dry hands or laying them upon the bank can render them susceptible to deadly infection. Trout are survivors, but they are fragile. It isn’t just fish, though: A creek, sustaining all manner …
One year ago this Sunday, I shaved. Like any other morning when I’d have to get up and go to work or appear in some sort of formal capacity in front of civilized people, I showered, dressed, and shaved. All was normal. Things were smooth. Later that day I headed down to a conference in …
“What are you reading these days?” I ask that question at work, of family, and to folks that I interact with in the fly fishing community. It might come across as nosy or weird, but I am truly interested in what people are interested in. What we read, and the rationale behind it, is fascinating. …
There are places that respectable anglers don’t venture near. These forbidden locations are just on the edge of everyday life. The normal places that one might pass on the way to go fly fishing. What keeps grown men and women away is fear. The kind of fear that stems from the oh-so-familiar knowledge that what …
There are two types of fly fishers in the world: the ones who are thinking about getting another fly rod, and the ones who are actively shopping for another fly rod. Be it graphite, fiberglass, or bamboo, a fly rod is what makes the real connection between the fisher and the fishing. Your hand holds …
Driving. Folding laundry. Grocery shopping. Mowing the lawn. Waiting for the doctor. All of these monotonous intervals could very well be time for you to be alone with your thoughts. Or, you could tap on your smartphone and listen to something entertaining. And if it just so happens that you are into this whole fly …
“That’s a nice fishing rod.” It is a cold, hard fact that 75% of the time that particular phrase occurs is while someone is standing indoors, wiggling the tip of a fly rod. Ask a fly shop employee. Ask a company rep at a tradeshow. Hand your average angler a fly rod and see what …
Most Fridays on Casting Across are devoted to other people’s contributions in the fly fishing community. Articles, pictures, social media accounts, videos, podcasts, products, and more will be featured on The Last Cast of the Week. Today, I’m sharing items from Trout & Feather, Windknots & Tangled Lines, and Small Stream Reflections If you’d like …
There is an intimacy in the Appalachian Mountains. While few segments of the topography are severe like much of the Rockies out west are, there is a tangible closeness in the hollows and valleys of the eastern mountain range. Perhaps it can be attributed to the contrast that Appalachia provides. With only a short drive …
