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Fishing with The Medic
For some years I have used the fall equinox as an excuse to spend a night or two in the Sierra Nevada, sleeping on the ground and fishing for trout in a small tributary to the upper San Joaquin River. This year, I made the grievous error of inviting my brother to join me. This…
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Fishing and aging
Aging. We all do it — every minute and second of every day. Why is wisdom gained only with age? Hitting a rather large, round number earlier this year, I’ve been reflecting on life — how to spend more time living my life, how to spend more time with the people I love, and how to make the most of those minutes and seconds, every day. Of course, one answer…
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At home on the Tongass
My father once told me that “home is where you hang your hat.” I believed it, for a time, at least. I mean, as a young boy, who was I to argue with the wisdom of a grownup? I’ve come to realize, though, that “home” is where everything seems to fall into place just right.…
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Point No Point
The deviation from the plan started when the app we were using to navigate across downtown Seattle in morning traffic guided us down appallingly skinny, twisted streets and a scenic tour of old neighborhoods that did not, in the end, deliver us to the ferry any more rapidly than if we had simply followed the…
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Two 20-something women put their heads together to protect the Tongass
If you’ve followed along with Trout Unlimited’s campaigns in Alaska over the past few months, you know that from Pebble Mine advancements to Roadless Rule rollbacks, incredible places like Bristol Bay and the Tongass National Forest are at great risk. In response to the increased need for capacity on these TU campaigns, the Alaska program brought me and Kayla Roys on…
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Think it’s going to be a great day? Think again.
There is a risk to presuming that the first few minutes of a fishing outing will portend how the entire day will unfold. How often do we struggle early, and then rally? How often do we dominate early and then fade? But we often can’t help ourselves, which is part of why I got a…
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Coaching an elder to success
“One more cast,” I say to my brother from the bank above the Frying Pan River. A monster trout is rising with regularity and taunting my brother’s last nerve. I’ve been coaching him to place his fly in the exact spot from his perch on the opposite side of the run for what seems like forever. …
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