Nervous Water

Nervous Water

A father and son are finally reunited, on a secluded lake high in the Colorado Rockies. On a clear June morning, I took my father bass fishing into the Colorado Rocky Mountains. I had not seen or spoken to him in ten years. We ate an early breakfast at a truck stop on...
Tomorrow’s the Day

Tomorrow’s the Day

Tomorrow is the moment he’s been waiting for. Tomorrow the fisherman will emerge from his annual six-months’ hibernation, which began with the close of last year’s trout season, and head once more for that favorite pool he has brooded about all winter. Tomorrow – nor...
Release the Grease

Release the Grease

There are things in this world—rare, fine things—that no amount of money can buy. I’m not talking about intangibles: love, happiness, a satisfied mind. I’m talking about palpable objects of desire, things that exist in the realm of the senses but are simply...
No Sporting Chance

No Sporting Chance

The glass buildings shimmered the mirage of a hot morning sun, but winter’s grasp hadn’t yielded to the warmth of spring. February had ended all too abruptly, too fast, with the promises for tomorrow yet undreamt. In the alley below, a cold wind rushed through. It...
One Last Cast: The Legacy of Jack Hemingway

One Last Cast: The Legacy of Jack Hemingway

A legend in his own right, Ernest’s son, Jack Hemingway, created a name for himself in the world of fly fishing that lives on to this day. Anyone who was lucky enough to befriend Jack Hemingway during his lifetime—and he frequently fished with some of the world’s most...
Birthday on the Manitou

Birthday on the Manitou

As I watched, my resentment began to leave and I knew that, whatever the reason for his coming in, it must have been very important. While casting the long riffle below the pool, I became aware that I was not alone, that someone was there on the river with me. It...
The Governor’s Trout

The Governor’s Trout

Sean and Patrick had chanced upon the secret to catching the Governor’s huge Loch Levens trout. And this very night would be the perfect time to pull off their daring exploit. Right under the Governor’s very nose.

Dry-Cow Fishing As A Fine Art

Dry-Cow Fishing As A Fine Art

The 1907 winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) achieved fame as a poet and novelist. He is best remembered for poems such as “Gunga Din” and “Fuzzy Wuzzy,” books such as Kim, Captain Courageous and The Jungle Book, and for coining the...
The Ghost of Christmas Present

The Ghost of Christmas Present

I parked in the cul-de-sac where the suburban world ended. Unhitching my rod from the roof of my pickup, I crossed the bridge over the thundering creek and walked past the pump housing that the cougar liked to lie upon in the midwinter sun. Once again, I had passed...