by David N. McIlvaney - Thursday, May 25th, 2023
There’s a small lake at the end of a gravel road in Northern Ontario. It’s much like a thousand other Canadian lakes, ringed with cottages, perfectly shorn birch and maple that the deer can reach from the ice to help get through a long winter, and a multitude of docks—from concrete and steel to rusty nails and pallets.
by Tim Schulz - Monday, May 22nd, 2023
There is magic in between. The cadence of the cast, the poetic loop of the line, the soft landing of the leader, and the anxious anticipation of that one thing you think you can’t live without but always do. The sunlight bleeding through the trees, the aspen leaves telling jokes about the pines, and the white-throated sparrow singing the song that always makes you want to cry. The rotten smell of mud, the sour taste of wind, the warm embrace of the river, and the weight of another fool’s monkey—another fool’s circus—lifting from your shoulders.
by Chris Hunt - Saturday, May 20th, 2023
Several years back, I had three vertebrae fused in my lower back, the “solution” to nagging sciatica that, when the surgeon reported to me, post-op, was caused by my S1 vertebrae cracking and slowly splitting.
“I bet you didn’t know you’ve been walking around with a broken back,” he said, noting the crack and split hadn’t shown up in the pre-surgery imaging. “Probably for a few years.”
by Todd Tanner - Thursday, Apr 6th, 2023
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me, he'd grown up just like me. My boy was just like me ...
My eyes aren’t as good as they used to be, especially up close. So when the new magnifiers showed up here at the house, I just had to try them out.
by Richard Wilson - Wednesday, Mar 22nd, 2023
It’s early March and, at last, I’m on a real river. It’s the moment of transition out of my close-season daydreaming. A rude awakening.
God it was ugly.
An ancient fiberglass fly rod leaned awkwardly in the forgotten corner of a vintage/junk shop. It looked like a seven-footer; clearly home-built...
Given the sheer amount of less-than-reliable fly fishing information floating around on the internet, it’s not always easy for anglers to know who to trust when it comes...
It wasn't so long ago that I was at the stage in life where a number of iconic figures in the art and entertainment world I'd grown up with had begun to pass out of this...
Flats fishing is an active pursuit, and the terrain isn’t always as friendly as we wish it was. And when you’re wading, it’s all about stealth and balance. Keeping your...
I teach basic fly-fishing skills at Penn State University. Most of my students have little experience fishing for wild or native trout but have spent plenty of time...
Yesterday, the Biden administration rejected the “speculative” Amber Road Project that would have constructed an industrial-grade road some 210 miles into the Alaskan...
