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Time to get away
A thankful get-away to the river
It was time. Actually, it was well past time. I had to get out of the house. I work from home and have for years, so these stay-at-home orders weren’t a big change for me. But because I’m immunocompromised thanks to ongoing cancer treatments, I haven’t been in town, seen friends nor been anywhere but doctors’ offices for well over…
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The Drunken Two-step
The panga makes for an unsteady dance floor
Fly fishing from a boat is a dance, rarely elegant and frequently anything but. While some watercrafts and bodies of water are more conducive to shaking a leg while wetting a line, a partly covered panga (which truthfully only accommodates approximately 1.5 fly anglers) rolling with tide of the Pacific Ocean will never be high on the list of suitable dance floors. South of the border and 4,500 miles away from the glacial rivers and cold creeks that I call home,…
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Looking back to look forward
These are strange and scary times. The yearning for a return to the normal is palpable. I feel it too, even though the shelter-in-place orders affect me less than many, since I have worked from home for years. No question, this coronavirus business put me in a funk. Fishing is a great funk reliever. But…
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Put, take … and eat
Early season trout fishing on the high desert of Idaho
There’s a little desert trout stream that catches runoff from the Bitterroot and Lemhi ranges in eastern Idaho, and it’s easy to get to, even during spring “mud season.” The creek isn’t anything terribly special, really. It’s managed for water delivery and as a put-and-take fishery—its habitat is pretty marginal, given its high gradient and…
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It’s OK to have a few secret spots
[et_pb_section admin_label="section"] [et_pb_row admin_label="row"] [et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text"] Rabid protection of secret spots can be tricky. I think back to one I protected with a vigor that bordered on irrational paranoia. It was a small stream not far from Roanoke, Va., and I fished it for the first time not long after I moved to the…
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River treasures
Over the years on countless rivers and streams, I’ve found treasures. When the fishing slows or just for a change of pace, I walk around with my head down. It’s amazing what you can find. Of course, there’s the disappointing: tippet or leader pieces, shotgun shell casings, spent bobbers and the make-me-want-to-pull-my-hair-out cigarette butts and plastic water bottles. But…
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The fishing lodge
The greatest fishing tales are first told at the lodge
The old dart board hangs from the split-log wall, inviting a game of 501. It’s just to the left of the bar, which rests in the shadow of a massive bull moose mount. The fireplace crackles nicely, spitting flames up the rock chimney and spreading the aroma of seasoned spruce throughout the lodge. It mingles…
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