Sadly, in the process of living we come to believe that who we are today is who we have always been. The river of time carries us so far downstream that it is hard to remember the headwaters of our lives. Those high mountain streams of virgin thought, experience, and purity. It is not time’s …
Tag: God
Humility
The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life. - Proverbs 22:4 If I could spend a day fishing with my younger self, there would be so much I’d have to say about life, about perspective, about priorities, about faith, and about fishing. But to get to the brass …
Where the trout are….
Johnson County, Wyoming The trout are where you find them. A simple truth to remedy the most confounding question: where are the trout? If I stop and think about it, I spend much of my free time pondering this question. I buy and read old fly fishing books from the 80’s written by men who …
The Way
A man’s heart deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his steps. - Proverbs 16:9 Over the years I’ve spent a lot of time thinking over the paths we take in life. Or those we do not take. I think that if we were honest, these conversations we have within ourselves regarding how we should …
Doug
Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed my nature to bear. The same thing happens to another, and either because he does not see that they have happened, or because he would show great spirit, he is firm and remains unharmed.” - Meditations, Book V.14 Marcus Aurelius wrote extensively about living in …
Times of High Water
The day should have been a perfect spring trout fishing day. It started as a drizzly morning, but by noon had transitioned to puffy white clouds peppering an otherwise blue and sunny sky. The air was warm. Just enough of a breeze to keep the hatches down. The water was not cloudy but had enough …
Big Rocks
Over the years, I often used the headline of “Big Rocks” on my To-Do List to highlight the top things I needed to accomplish that day or week. It was a system that kept me focused on the highest priorities. Somewhere along my career it seems I crossed a threshold where one is never caught …
Blind Spots
Blind spots both surround us and help define us - wether we realize this or not - it is a simple truth. This thought occurred to me today as I walked along a local stream with Laurel, my retriever. I kept looking around for her as I worked my way upstream, and every time I …
The Traditional Thread that Binds
The Traditional Way… It’s been a long off-season, but it has not been a season off. I stopped trout fishing back when the temps were in the 90’s and the rain had ceased falling, so I guess that was around the Dog Days of Summer. Fishing conditions were restored by early October, but I was …
Between the Moments….
We live between the moments. They surround us. Each day we are presented with the simple, yet emphatic question: what will I do today? The day passes slowly; The years pass quickly. One day we awake… and we are older. What did we do with the moments that we had? ….yet you do not know …
Red-Letter Days…
Moments of perfection The practice of designating days, words, or letters of great significance as red-letter days goes back to early 500’s AD. I never really looked into this before, thought about it, or even noticed it - even though it was always there... my red-letter Bible with the words of Jesus in red, a …
…beside the still waters
Sometimes it is only when we look back that we fully understand. It is only the perspective of “the rest of the story...” that allows us to fully appreciate the Hand of God in our lives. And so it was for me this summer. I spent the better part of June and half of July …
Always look up…
Grant County, WV Always look up, or you will have nothing but snags. Trout in the morning sunlight Slow down and be willing to wait for clarity, or you will have wasted effort. North Mountain, Pendleton County, WV Every part of the stream is different, yet connected, so be willing to adapt, but never abandon …
Blue Line Sanctuary
The more I seek out new brook trout streams, the more I am amazed at the beauty of these places. The best places are often not ones you find on state game and fish websites or that you hear people talk about. They certainly are not the ones where you see half a dozen cars …
Appalachian Mountain Brookies 