Home » Archives for Matthew » Page 34

Author: Matthew

Fishing Idaho: Gold in Rainbows

For nearly 15 years, Idaho Fish and Game has encouraged anglers to kill trout. Ads have been placed. Limits have been eliminated. And, most interesting, cash prizes have been offered. All so that rainbow trout can be killed as efficiently as possible in the South Fork Snake River. Of course, the reason behind the initiative …

read more

Gone Hunting: Last Day

The  wind and the snow/rain weren’t ideal, but it was the last day of the season. The birds hadn’t been behaving in any sort of discernable pattern, but it was the last day of the season. None of us had a whole lot of optimism, but it was the last day of the season. It …

read more

Podcast Ep. 218: Your Day at a Fishing Expo

I can’t think of a better way to spend a cold, dismal January day than walking around a convention hall filled with flannel-garbed anglers. But I know that there are some out there who can’t see the appeal. My perspective is that many who poo-poo fly fishing shows are doing it wrong. In today’s episode, …

read more

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Mole and Rat are most well known for their interactions with the capricious Mr. Toad. His automobile-related hijinks keep his rodent friends busy, and beset them with stresses and obligations of no fault of their own. Indeed, Mr. Toad is perhaps the most entertaining character in Kenneth Grahame’s  The Wind in the Willows. However, there …

read more

New Year’s Days & New Year’s Trout

There are a lot of ways that one can ring in the New Year. As a teenager, most of those significant midnight moments involved doing what was most significant to me. And that was fish. My best friend and I would drive up to Southcentral Pennsylvania from Northern Virginia and go to bed around 8:00pm, …

read more

Podcast Ep. 217: Fly Shop Stories, II

Ideally, we’d all be thoughtful and intentional fly shop patrons out of our own wisdom. Sometimes, we need tales of woe to correct us. And sometimes, we like to be entertained by the ridiculous goings-on that occur at fly shops. Once again, I’m turning back a few chapters in my life to when I spent …

read more

Rusty Flybox: Hollers & Skylines

Once again I’m spending the holidays in Virginia. I’m from the Midwest. I root for the Bears, love a good relish tray at family gatherings, and don’t think ketchup belongs on a hot dog. Illinois is where I’m from. But Virginia is home. It is where I spent my formative, teenage years. It is where …

read more

Not Safely Wild

A park like Shenandoah has everything going for it. …everything that could lull you into a state of lackadaisical passivity. Countless amenities with ample signage, easy highway access, and throngs of tourists make a popular east coast park seem overwhelmingly safe. Shenandoah National Park is a place where your grandparents picnic. It is a place …

read more

A Not-Too-Shabby 2022

Big picture, generally speaking: 2022 wasn’t that great. Look at the news, the economy, and the overall temperature  of our culture. We’re in dire need of a fix. (I do have ideas about that, but such things are for a different forum.) From a much more narrow  perspective, 2022 wasn’t half bad. I’ve utilized one …

read more