The Galleria dell’Accademia. The Ponte Vecchio. The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. For the past few days, I’d been standing in these places absorbing the immensity of their historical and cultural significance. Statues, paintings, and facades that I’d been seeing my whole life were now right in front of me. There were moments that …
As the springtime temperatures climb, anglers also begin to move up to the hollows and highlands in pursuit of mountain trout. Whether it be brook trout in the east or wild cutthroats in the west, the species that occupy high gradient small streams are a favorite quarry of fly fishers. The nature of mountain creek …
For the vast majority of anglers, fly fishing encompasses a lot more than actually fly fishing. Looking forward to a weekend away fishing, it isn’t abnormal to anticipate the late night talks around the fire or the trips to the same dive bar in town. One isn’t any less an angler if the promise of …
It was Cousin Eddie that so succinctly summed up the value of the jelly of the month club: “Clark, that is the gift that keeps giving throughout the entire year.” And while he was the only character in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation that was optimistic about the prospect of twelve months of jams delivered straight …
I started fly fishing at a young age. With a few silver spoon exceptions, teenage anglers generally share a particular trait while on the water: Don’t lose a fly, at any cost. This means that sleeves get rolled up to the shoulder to pry a streamer from a log at the bottom of the stream. …
I’ve always enjoyed fishing small streams. Along with so many other anglers, the intimacy of little creeks is enticing for so many reasons: the remote locations they are often found in, the solitude that they afford, and quite frequently, the wild trout that they contain. The trout are, of course, the focus. But unlike larger …
In the past few weeks, I’ve had at least three interactions regarding fly fishing books. Fly fishing books have been an important part of the sport for hundreds of years, taking different forms and meeting various needs. Even when so much information is available at the tap of a smart phone, tangible media is incredibly …
I’m sure I’d trigger the plagiarism-detecting software if I ran an article that began with the sentence: “fly fishermen love their gadgets!” But it is true. Anglers that prefer to pursue fish with fly tackle have a special affinity for specialized apparatuses. (That one cleared.) Even the facet of our sport that is simplest, purest, …
After a couple of fly fishing shows, I feel like the audience that Jackson Browne sings about in “The Load-Out.” For those of you missing out on a quintessential piece of music, I’ll bring you up to speed: Browne sings about the daily grind of the touring musician, while each city’s crowd experiences the spectacle …
Are you planning on going somewhere this weekend? Somerset, perhaps? There is absolutely no reason why you can’t be entertained while cruising down the freeway or even sitting in traffic. Three months back, I listed my top five fly fishing podcasts. I wanted to add some new episodes to the podcasts that I’ve previously suggested, …
