A Fishy Tale

A Fishy Tale

In my youth, I chanced to date a girl whose family had a cabin on a lake. The lake was Bay Lake, just north of sprawling Mille Lacs Lake in central Minnesota. Going to the cabin was an escape from reality. Annie’s father took good care of the place, and when we made...

Does It Still Happen?

Does It Still Happen?

Words and values were their greatest legacy — the outdoors their greatest gift. Tell me. Do kids somewhere still grow up with Cochise, Robin Hood and William Tell, rather than the Terminator and Robo-Cop? Do they still forge blood-brother pacts with the Ogalala Sioux?...

Old Timer

Old Timer

He didn't look 80 years or more; he had the timeless quality of vigorous old age, the look of extended youth often seen on the faces of old men who have preserved some boy thoughts, particularly boy thoughts upon nature... Mill and I had finished our sandwiches and...

Lowcountry Tales

Lowcountry Tales

A tangled tale from the Carolina Lowcountry where writing runs deep in the blood. Half-moon of July, a low tide at noon, glaring blight sun and nary a breeze to ruffle the waters of Port Royal Sound. Piney islands shimmer in distant heat waves, surf grumbles far...

Tyee and the Salmon of 30+ Pounds

Tyee and the Salmon of 30+ Pounds

Tyee is the Indian name for a salmon of 30 pounds or more. No one has come very close to the mark. It seemed to make sense. From the time of the early Indians, Barkley Sounders have called a 15-pound or better chinook salmon a "smiley." Maybe the smiles would come...

The River Collector

The River Collector

It was not a conscious choice, but it seems that I have been building a collection. It is a collection of trout rivers. The collection was started almost 50 years ago, the summer our family rented a cedar shingle cottage on a small Michigan lake. Lily pads filled its...