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The True Cast: In fly fishing, failure IS an option… (and that’s just fine).
I’ve found that the most dedicated anglers tend to be those who relish challenges, even simple ones like, “how am I going to trick that creature, hiding behind that rock, to eat this fly?”
While I was fishing the Delaware River with him several years ago, my friend, author Monte Burke, summed up the entire fly-fishing experience with succinct aplomb: “At the end of the day,” he said, “it’s really just about problem solving, like putting pieces of a puzzle together.” How true! And I’ve found that the most…
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The True Cast: “Replace Yourself.”
Especially when I fish, I think about all the mentors I’ve had, and I am grateful.
I’ve been very fortunate to have had many mentors as I waded into the wide, wild world of fishing and writing. My parents unconditionally supported the fascination I had with fish, even though they weren’t themselves into fishing. My father-in-law was probably the person most responsible for teaching me how to fly fish, and more…
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The True Cast: On guides and guiding
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it…
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The True Cast: Is fly-fishing an “elitist” pursuit?
Okay, so as we shove this “True Cast” column/ship off the dock, we may as well start with a doozie. Every now and then, I get a nastygram telling me I focus too much on fly fishing, that I should get off my high horse, and run more stories about “conventional” tackle, and that fly…
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“The True Cast”
A new column for a new year.
A new column for a new year. New Year’s resolution—write more, and be more willing to say what I “really think.” I’m not assuming that anyone should care necessarily, but there’s a lot of confusing information out there about trout and salmon fishing—the way we go about it, how we measure success, who does what…
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Three of my favorite . . . fly-casting tips
These are the best I’ve ever learned.
These are the best I’ve ever learned I’ve been very fortunate over the years to have spent some time watching and learning firsthand from the masters of casting a fly rod, from Lefty Kreh, Frank Moore, Flip Pallot and Mel Krieger, to John Juracek, Simon Gawesworth, and Tom Rosenbauer—people who literally “wrote the books” on…
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Do we anglers, ourselves, amount to a ‘conservation challenge’?
Angling Trade magazine (of which I am also editor) recently conducted a poll of folks with a stake in the business of fly fishing, asking what they considered to be the greatest conservation issue of the day. Answer number one… climate change. No surprise there, but that probably wouldn’t have been the case even several…
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