“Yeah, but it’s just…” Surf around on fly fishing message boards, scroll through social media, or hang out at angling events and you’ll hear this sentiment about any number of fly fishing products. “That material is just something you can get at the craft store.” “That hat is just a hat with a fishing patch …
If anything about fly fishing gets you down – and I mean really gets you down – maybe it isn’t for you. Maybe you should try wing shooting or surfing or sneaker collecting or curling. But I am virtually certain that the same kind of things that can get you flustered in fly fishing are …
This is the second installment of a two part post – check out last week’s Fly Shop Lost. “Do you know what happened to the sporting goods store downtown on Main Street? It must have closed down about 15 years ago.” She kept pouring my coffee, but the waitress gave me a look. It was …
Years ago, it went out of business. It was one of the first fly shops I stepped foot in. Like many other storefronts on an old main street, some combination of modern economic factors caused it to shutter its doors after decades of service to locals and out-of-towners. It had the reputation for catering to …
Naturally, fly fishers focus on fish. We learn to cast so we can catch trout. We hone our tying skills so we can catch musky. We learn to cast further so we can catch bonefish. We adorn our offices with pictures of fish, we look at photos of fish online, and we doodle fish in …
You will find some real interesting characters in fly shops. After nearly two decades of formal, empirical anthropological research, I’ve developed an efficient classification system and taxonomy for the types of individuals one encounters in fly shops. As a former fly shop employee, an occasional customer, and a curious observer of awkward situations, I believe …
Can there be too many fly fishing podcasts? Probably. But I’d put that threshold right around the same place as “too many riverside conversations” or “too many fly shop shooting the breeze sessions.” For that reason I’ve been recording and publishing the Casting Across Fly Fishing Podcast for the past few months. At the same …
I am blessed. I have four boys. A baby of two months, a two-year old, a four-year old, and a six-year old. As for the eldest, tonight is the last night he will be six. He is very excited about being seven and growing up. We are excited for him. Having other, younger children helps …
Everyone likes to remember that fish. The big fish. The first fish. The fish you caught on a dry fly after the perfect cast. The way it used to be done meant killing that fish. If you caught an impressive trout, killing and mounting it was the way you remembered your feat and your trip. …
I truly appreciate every thoughtful comment I receive on Casting Across. Moreover, I feel that if you took the effort to continue the conversation that I started then I should respond. In this episode, I interact with three comments that I received. They are from an article on the website, a social media post, and …
