Articles

American Woman

One of the most accomplished outdoorswomen of her day, gorgeous Jane Mason inspired Hemingway’s nastiest femmes fatales

by Tom Davis - Wednesday, Jan 16th, 2019

Images from left to right: Mason posed along a wall (origin unknown), Mason with Carlos Gutierrez—who served as a boat guide for Hemingway—aboard Joe Russell’s boat “Anita” (photo: JFK Presidential Library and Museum, Boston), Mason in a skin care advertisement for Pond's Cold Cream.

"Here comes the Memsahib," he said. She was walking over from her tent looking refreshed and cheerful and quite lovely. She had a very perfect oval face, so perfect that you expected her to be stupid. But she wasn't stupid, Wilson thought, no, not stupid.

Editors' picks: The best stories of 2018

The favorite stories of the past year, as selected by our staff and contributors

by Chad Shmukler - Tuesday, Jan 15th, 2019

Photo: Martin Christensson

Last week, we highlighted the most popular Hatch Magazine stories of 2018 as "voted" by our readers—voted, that is, by readership. Those top 10 stories of the past year were a mixed bag including everything from fishing tips and gear news to conservation journalism and other topics. In addition to those that bubbled to the top of the list of reader favorites, we asked our editorial staff and contributors to pick their favorites from 2018.

The very cruelest thing

Sometimes you can get so mad about something it festers and becomes part of your brain

by Jon Tobey - Wednesday, Jan 9th, 2019

Photo: Justin Hamblin (edited)

I don’t think of myself as a cruel person. Maybe when I was younger I did some cruel things. You know, mostly saying the most painful thing at the best time to hurt the one you love the most. I tried to get over that. Of course, it’s easy to be kind once they leave and you’re alone. Anyway, I thought I was past all that, but recently I did the very cruelest thing.

The windshield test

When trying to match the hatch, use all the tools at your dispoal

by Chris Hunt - Tuesday, Jan 8th, 2019

A blue winged olive sits solo on a car windshield (photo: B. Eatpharm).

About 20 years ago, I was driving south on Interstate 15 in the dim afterglow of a patented eastern Idaho sunset over the Snake River Plain, just north of the community of Blackfoot. The Snake flows southwest here, right under the freeway, and as I approached the river in the dim light, I heard what I initially thought were raindrops.

Fly for a try

A day on Scotland’s famed River Tay

by Shane Townsend - Friday, Jan 4th, 2019

Photo: Shane Townsend

Scone, Scotland may not be the epicenter of the flyfishing world; but this morning, it feels like it. A hundred thirty miles north, the River Spey runs past the Gordon Estate where in the mid-1800s, the spey cast was born. Twenty miles south sits Loch Leven where – just a generation later – brown trout eggs were gathered and sent to America to build a wild population. And, beneath the rising fog before me slide the waters of the River Tay—from which in 1922, Georgina Ballantine hauled a 64-pound salmon that stands as the record in the British Isles. The clock strikes 9 a.m.