Trout Lilly (Erythronium americanum) Two weeks ago, as John and I took the long walk back up the mountain out of the run, lamenting the three miles to one fish ratio of the day, John said something that struck me as profound: “I just like knowing they are here.” For John, that day he had …
Tag: Trout
Chasing April
What a 35 degree Colorado stream looks like… I am an inept fly fisherman. Let’s get that out of the way as a preface to anything I may ever say or elude to in the future. I make no elusions as to my ability, but rather only to my efforts. As much sarcasm and blame …
Right dress, wrong dance
As I walked along a West Virginia stream, this one known as a “Run” - I suppose meaning something smaller than a creek - I had a humorous thought occur to me….I was like a high school kid who showed up at Prom dressed for the Halloween Dance - or maybe the other way around. …
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 …
Something Profound in a Trout Stream
…as winter gives way to spring, so the seasons of life transition from one to another. “Can you remember the first time you cried?” She asked me. We were talking about many things as we drove across the front range, which lay hidden behind a blanket of clouds and snow. “Not really” I said. My …
Buoy Ten
There is an imaginary demarkation where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean, marked by a floating red buoy known by locals as Buoy Ten. On a hot day in late August, to the west side of this you will find calm, peaceful water. To the east…. chaos. The ocean-side of Buoy #10 is a …
Fatherhood and Brook Trout
… the visions that we leave The fog clung tight to the water, as the run poured over moss-covered rock. The hemlock and birch along the banks crowded over us, making it hard for the sunlight to stream through. To look up or downstream you found yourself leaning forward, head up, eyes squinting, straining… trying …
Ends of the Earth
“...Oh, theres a river that winds on forever; I’m gonna see where it leads...” the opening lyrics to Lord Huron’s Ends of the Earth. This river is the Crooked River, Oregon. I have a problem. Admittedly, it is a problem. I say this as I rest my feet after walking nearly five miles out of …
Rainbows in Winter
Wild West Virginia Rainbow The Rainbow - the symbol renewal; The promise of change and hope. In the grey depths of winter, in the shadows of worry and fear, through the heavy burden of difficulty; what could be more fitting? And so from the chill we emerge, and we return to wild places, to unspoiled …
North Country Radio
East Fork Sacandaga River, NY Driving down a country road in the Adirondacks, window down, seventy degrees, North Country Public Radio in the speakers, listening the the Dean’s List radio show playing some old school acoustic indie-rock style music... I felt like I had traveled back in time. I love moments like that. I had …
40 Mile Trout
Here I was on a trout stream no one had told me about, that wasn’t a special regulation stream, that wasn’t stocked... looking at a native trout taken on a dry fly I had tied that wasn’t likely to catch a fish...
An evening on Cheat
I never dreamed I would make it fishing on a Sunday evening after fishing all day on Saturday, but like the weather, sometimes and rarely things come together. So my son Sam and I made the 45 minute drive up Cheat Mountain to see what we could do. It had been a hot May afternoon, …
Don’t Fish Here.
the frustration of fly fishing for native trout during a Pandemic
Appalachian Mountain Brookies 