Just over ten years ago I was asked to contribute to a project that sought to raise funds for the purchase of a plot of land in south central Pennsylvania. Michael Klimkos was putting together a book for the Central Pennsylvania Conservancy. The group was looking to capitalize on the history of the land, specifically …
Charlie K. Fox’s This Wonderful World of Trout has reached an audience much wider than the tiny spring creeks the author haunted. With an endearing mix of how-to, anecdote, and history, the book has been embraced as a classic of the angler’s library. Fox was numbered among the prominent Pennsylvania fly fishers of the mid-20th …
Just because you put a fly rod in a baby’s hands doesn’t mean he’ll grow up to be a fly fisher. But in the case of my eldest son, it is working thirteen years in. Recently he asked to go on a fishing trip to one of the places I fished most as a teenager. …
His first groggy words of the morning expressed his desire to fish the Letort. He knew what he was getting into. An avid reader, he had been picking random volumes out of my fly fishing library for years. He had seen the pictures of the weeds and read the dour words of those recalling the …
One of the most important facets of anything done for fun or profit is the individuals who will dive deep into the minutiae of things. While the quantity or specificity might not be for everyone, the consequential byproducts usually benefit everyone. While I personally love the intricate detail of A. Joseph Armstrong’s Trout Unlimited Guide …
“One more cast.” Of all the softly spoken magic spells in fly fishing, this one might be the most frequent incantation. Part desperation, part closure; the idea of a final presentation has a certain hopeful romance to it. The fish can’t tell that you’re about to call it a day. But the thought behind the …
One should carefully approach the trout stream and objectively read the water before tying on a fly, stepping into the current, or making a cast. The alternative is to assume that what has worked for you before will work again this time. The latter is my inevitable default. Particularly when I’m feeling pressured to catch …
I caught my first trout on a fly rod in south central Pennsylvania. The lush valley with its limestone streams was different enough from suburban Virginia to be aesthetically enchanting to an otherwise distracted teenager. Closer streams with less challenging trout were an option. But I was smitten. Without any ties aside from a few …
Every other fly rod was on the vertical rack. Sage, Orvis, Winston: all the names I knew and aspired to collect. But this rod was hung up horizontally. It was a bright amber with deep red wraps. The most striking aspect of the rod was that it was shorter than all the other fly rods …
Take a look at the photo above. On the surface, it isn’t that remarkable. The trout is pretty enough… but it isn’t particularly large. The tackle in the background, on first glance, is standard fare. And there is nothing immediately distinctive about the scenery. The perceptive observer might notice something about each of the subjects …
