I’m blessed with four amazing boys. Each is gifted in his own way. Each loves the outdoors; including the water and everything in it that crawls or swims. This past month my three oldest submitted artwork to a local fair. Before running off to funnel cake and ferris wheels, the boys sprinted into the exhibit …
To fish or not to fish? That is a good question, come fall. Why? Some of our most beloved quarry have been making fish babies for millennia in the autumn. Proper stewardship necessitates we wade lightly and cast conscientiously during their more amorous intervals. So when do you lay off? Ask four different anglers and …
Fall fishing usually means changing your approach to pursuing fish. Hitting different spots and using different flies are usually required. Switching up your gear is almost as necessary. Personally, I carry more in the fall. Generally speaking, this comes down to the fact that I employ (and switch up) more layered clothing. My terminal gear …
Luray, Virginia: Effective immediately, Shenandoah National Park’s streams and rivers are closed to fishing due to low stream flows and high water temperatures. This closure is being implemented to ensure the long term health of the fish populations in the park. Dry conditions have led to extremely low stream flows throughout the Park, including some …
How can you retreat without running away? As a pastor, this is a question that I regularly think about; for those who come to me for counsel and for myself. What do I mean, and how does fly fishing fit in? First, it is important to define retreat. There are times when it is very important …
“He needs to know what kind of fishing it is going to be.” My wife was all for the 11 year old joining me on a trip to a tiny, tight, brook trout creek. Being a mom, she also had the intuition to identify some vital qualifiers of which he needed to be apprised. Casting …
Close up camp. Back to school. Don’t wear white. Labor Day does not sound like a whole lot of fun. But summer is only a short nine months away. And fall is pretty spectacular. Plus there is the fact that you can’t alter the rotation of the earth and the resultant seasons so there is …
A headlamp lives in most of my fly fishing packs. When I’m out for a long time or I’m far from the car, it goes in for emergencies. If I’ll be fishing into the evening, it goes in for safety and out of necessity. I usually have one in the back of the car all …
Earlier this month, hundreds of dead trout floated through the fly fishing only section of Maryland’s Beaver Creek. Authorities have yet to pinpoint the ultimate cause, but heavy rainfall over heavy-use agricultural and industrial lands bordering the stream is likely a significant part of the picture. The same environment that produces fertile spring creeks filled …
So this weekend happens to be my birthday. And it isn’t any birthday. It is one of those birthdays. A big, round number that seemed decades and decades away only a matter of years ago is upon me. But I don’t think it is going to be all that bad. What it does give me …
