Fishermen Are Not (Necessarily) Liars

Fishermen Are Not (Necessarily) Liars

It is evening. The day’s fishing is over, and the faithful of Portage Bay have wreaked havoc on the wonderful dinner Aileen and her hand-maidens have set before them – a dinner, to use the words of Izaak Walton, “too good for any but anglers, or very honest men.” Now,...
Mollygrubs To The Rescue!

Mollygrubs To The Rescue!

As Mollygrubs moved into his mid-teenage years amidst a seemingly never-ending series of snafus and strokes of bad luck, through dogged determination on his part and patient tutelage from his father, he nonetheless somehow managed to develop modest skills as a...
Great Guide Not

Great Guide Not

I owe much of what I know about how, where, and when to fish to great guides. Guides who spend day after day on the same water accompanying myriad clients of varied ability and temperament amass an abundance of knowledge that’s ours for the learning. Most of the time...
A Cole Creek Diary

A Cole Creek Diary

It tumbles off the east face of Big Back Mountain, leaping and flowing down its stony, laurel-lined course as it has for eons. Dad and I had fished its lower reaches when we’d first moved to Tennessee back in the early sixties, and many times we had talked about...
Tiger Hunting In Africa

Tiger Hunting In Africa

It was our second morning of fishing on Tanzania’s Ruhudji River and we had just skirted a pod of agitated hippos on our hour-long boat ride to where we’d be fishing. Our guide, South African Mark Murray, told my partner Phil Satre to swing his fly across the head of...
A Good Thing

A Good Thing

“The Falls Hole is the defining run in this stream that had defined our lives for so many years, and Dad had learned its every nuance in decades now long passed.” Snow and rain tracked nearly horizontal, and tiny shards of ice bit into our faces when we turned into...
Troutalope

Troutalope

Genus: Oncorkynchus pronghornii Habitat: Wide-open spaces inland American West Life History: Contrary to common opinion, the troutalope is not rare. In fact, thousands of people have a stuffed one in the garage, bagged with other incredible junk headed to the...