I never saw myself as the chain-yourself-to-a-bulldozer, repel-from-a-dam-to-paint-a-crack type. But I wasn’t totally disengaged from the environmental side of fly fishing. As a teenager I had been involved in some conservation. Stream clean ups, seminars, science fair projects – those sorts of things. So I was a little surprised at myself at what I did …
Mile 0 This afternoon I’ll be making the same drive I’ve been making for over six years. Down the east coast, from New England to Northern Virginia. It is the same drive in that the point of departure and the destination don’t change. However, there are virtually an infinite amount of ways to make the …
Wild or native? Native or wild? It is the they’re/there/their of fly fishing. “I caught some native browns from that pretty little spring creek in Montana the other week.” No, you didn’t. Unless “Montana” happens to be the name of some fancy European estate. “Look at the colors on this rainbow! The stripes on these …
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 …
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 …
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 …
