Salmon Fishing in the Aleutians
If Hell was cold, wet and windy, it would probably look a great deal like Volcano Bay in Alaska's Aleutians. But in one of those lovely little touches of irony at which God is so devilishly good, if Heaven was made just for fishermen with a sense of adventure, the...
Thoughts on Fly Fishing – Subimago Blues
57 years ago, on January 14th, 1965, Bob Dylan recorded his hit single "Subterranean Homesick Blues" Here are some thoughts on fly fishing set to this classic tune. Down in the basement, Thinnin' out the head cement, Thumbin' through a catalog, Last...
Tales to Tell in Winter
When I was seventeen, it was a very good year. It was a very good year for small- town girls and soft summer nights. We'd hide from the lights on the village green When I was seventeen. - Ervin Drake I was not yet 17 when I first heard The Kingston Trio sing Ervin...
The Cold Burn Cognition of Living
Islands in the stream...eras in the flow of a man’s lifetime. Days lapse January meager now, and this one is dying. In the twilight of its wake, snow is born. Death to one, life to another. Waylaid at my threshold by the magic, rescued from the zephyr of melancholy...
Dispatch From the Caribbean 4
At the intertidal zone on the north shore of St. Croix, located on the west edge of Annaly Bay, rests a tidal pool. Access to this rock formation where saltwater deposits pool together, separate from the sea, is not easy, though rather simple: You either hike the 2.7...
Dispatch From the Caribbean 3
The people along the sand All turn and look one way. They turn their back on the land. They look at the sea all day. As long as it takes to pass A ship keeps raising its hull; The wetter ground like glass Reflects a standing gull The land may vary more; But wherever...
Dispatch From the Caribbean 2
“Long have you timidly waded Holding a plank by the shore, Now I will you to be a bold swimmer, To jump off in the midst of the sea, Rise again, nod to me, shout, And laughingly dash with your hair.” - Walt Whitman There are moments when you feel an action. Something...
Dispatch From the Caribbean
We arrived in St. Croix around three this afternoon. The atmosphere was a bit heavy, some weighty humidity. The wind carried in an air of salt — mnemonic zephyrs of days yester. Scents have an uncanny power to conjure old memories. Catch a whiff of the sea when you...
Fishing Lake Texoma, Deadsticking Technique
DEADSTICKING - MORE ACTION THAN THE NAME IMPLIES The only thing the fishing technique known as “deadsticking” has to do with the word “dead” is the lack of activity by the fisherman before the hookset, especially when dealing with those hard fighting stripers while...
Stage for Stories – A Paean to Porches
Porches were a place where you could be at peace with the world...a stage for stories. In yesteryear one of many blessings, what folks living in my native heath, the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, tended to take for granted was that they could enjoy their...