If you live in Appalachia, there are plenty of animals that consistently fly, walk, or swim in your world. Red-tailed hawks, black bears, and brook trout are part of the living scenery from Maine to Georgia. There are other creatures that are just as much a part of the woods and waters, but are less …
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 …
Today’s podcast content takes a significant detour from our normal programming. That said, it represents what I truly think about more often than not. At the time of recording, the flooding in Yellowstone National Park is headline outdoors news. Why does that matter? How should anglers think about it? More importantly, how should we react …
How was your year in general? Okay. Now: How was your year in fly fishing? You don’t need to keep a journal or go on some sort of self-discovery session to think about your year on and around the water. Just consider your successes and (relative) failures. Take quick inventory of how you did and …
Disclaimer: I’m not advocating that anyone abandon their family during the holiday season. However, if you’re able to integrate a little fly fishing in the Christmas and New Year interval you should definitely go for it. This week I discuss some of the reasons why the period from late December to early January is great …
This fall I’ve taken some of my own advice. For years I’ve been encouraging those who read or listen to Casting Across to diversify their outdoor experience. It isn’t that I assume everyone who fly fishes only goes fly fishing. I just know that there have been times in my life when I’ve been primarily …
This week is a quick sprint through a sticky subject: which species deserve to live in any given area? In part, I’m responding to an article that questions the demonization of invasive species. Generally speaking, their point is a good one. However, some of the implications of the article are troublesome. As anglers, we have …
Less than a decade after he accepted Robert E, Lee’s surrender at Appomatox, Ulysses S. Grant signed a law making Yellowstone the first national park in the United States. In the following decades, more landmarks and wild places were protected by the federal government. In 1916, Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Organic Service Act. …
I don’t want to ever make an excuse for a seagull. However, the fly line was transparent. Casting 60 to 70 feet of line into the surf becomes a little monotonous. But it is monotonous in a good way. When you get into a rythm, the double hauling becomes effortless. The only interruptions are strikes …
This week’s episode is a hodge-podge of topics in and around fly fishing. I talk about choosing between two rod weights, which bug sprays you shouldn’t use while fly fishing, and how we should think about conservation in light of COVID. The only thing that ties any of these things together is that they’ve been …
