I had something planned for today, for the 6th Anniversary of Casting Across. The plan was to share some of the highs and lows of writing and talking about fly fishing three times a week for six years. There were some angling stories, some life events, and some interesting perspectives that come from recording my …
I wanted to try my hand at waterfowl hunting for a few years. Living in Massachusetts, procuring the appropriate paperwork to exercise the most mild form of my second amendment rights wasn’t the most expedient process. Add in a pandemic, and what I planned on doing in 2019 didn’t materialize until this fall. This past …
Inevitably, you’ve heard about the “four stages of the angler.” I don’t know who first came up with this timeline, but I do think it holds true. That being said, I don’t necessarily agree that it is as linear as is often implied. Often times progress means building upon the foundations you have already laid …
Over the years I have accumulated a lot of fly fishing gear. There are quite a few rods and reels. I have flies designed for fish I’ll never see. There are also more pairs of nippers and forceps than a reasonable person should own. Bottles of floatant, packets of strike indicators, and sinking agents provide …
We were created to rest. Five days of vocational work followed by two days of other work is still seven days of work. Scripture gives a divinely ordained reason to rest. Unsurprisingly, secular biologists and psychologists agree. We have periods of time for this, and periods for that. The same applies in fly fishing. For …
I don’t use the term magic much. But there is something magical about fly fishing in the fall. The woods and the fish get more colorful. The fishing seems to last all day; it stops being a morning and evening activity. The air is crisp and and the water has a little more of a …
Recently I had a very unproductive morning on the water. Fish were not where they were supposed to be. In this particular river system there are a few sure-fire spots. Nothing rose and nothing spooked. If I had to guess, the brook trout dropped down into the main stem of the river to seek out …
Outside of your terminal fly fishing gear, footwear might be one of the most important things you’ll purchase. You could make the argument that whatever you’re walking, wading, and standing in for hours on end is more important than a lot of what is in your fishing vest. Over the past five years I’ve been …
So much work goes into getting a fish onto your hook. But then what? A social media post got me thinking about how we fight fish. It is all about getting into and maintaining the right angles. This helps you and it helps the fish. Today I talk about two concepts for staying or getting …
Have you been fly fishing for decades or even just a few years? Consider the volume of knowledge that you have amassed. All of the on-stream experiences add up. Include all the guided trips, books, blogs, and YouTube videos: that is a lot of angling data. If someone asks you to take them fly fishing, …
