Those of us who came of age in a different era can find it disconcerting to live at a time when knowledge and expertise frequently take a back seat to marketing hype and fact-free perspectives. Still, fly fishers will always benefit from accurate information and informed opinions. Here are my thoughts on various aspects of fly fishing for trout. I hope they’ll prove worthwhile …

During my first night at Legacy Lodge in Winter, Wisconsin, an oracle appeared in my dreams. “You will catch one musky—and only one musky—sometime over the next three days, but the day and time will be a surprise.” Bonafide oracles are infallible, and mine resembled a famous one named Pythia. I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt a genuine oracle deserves, but her proclamation seemed like a puzzle with a missing piece. So I remembered how an old Professor of Logic from my freshman year in college—Dr. Martin van Nostrand—taught me to untangle puzzles like this.