“Catch anything?” I called out to the guy fishing down the creek behind me. I’d popped over to one of my usual spots to kill a bit of time while the turkey was cooking. I knew I’d see someone on the creek today, but hadn’t expected to find someone perched precariously on a log overhanging […]
The posthumous adventures of George Graw, fly fisher
George Graw and I started fishing together about two months after his death. Although neither of us knew it at the time, George and I met towards the end of his life. We met through our local fly fishing club and got to know each other better once I joined the club’s executive. At the […]
Golden Stoneflies – My Six-Legged Obsession
As I slowly become a better angler and better at things like reading the water and paying attention to what’s going on around me, I’ve started to develop an appreciation for some of the flies that I’ve had in my box for a long time, but never used. Few flies encapsulate this more than a […]
In Need of an Anchor
I have been in need of an anchor lately. It was something that I hadn’t really realized until I read this post by my buddy Walt over at Rivertop Rambles, but as soon as I started I realized that’s what I had been experiencing. Winter does that to anglers. The game changes, the fishing changes, […]
A Creek of One’s Own
When I was about 12 years old, my best friend’s dad bought a house on the opposite end of the island we were living on at the time. When I asked him why his dad had bought the place–they already had three places that I knew about–he told me that the creek that ran through […]
Chasing Rumours
The fishing season is winding down and, as tends to happen, my thoughts are drawn to the year’s fishing. As I’ve talked about in the past, it was a bit of a funny year. Forest fires, courses, backcountry closures, smoke and everything you can think of made getting out on the water hard. But, despite […]
The Road Block
Exploring, and the activities that go along with it like fishing, is a funny thing. You can plan and plan and plan out your trek to the Nth degree, cover every square inch of the area you’re in with your map book, Google Maps and prior knowledge and still not be fully prepared for what […]
A Fish 12 Months in the Catching
About five kilometers north of where you’re staying, you’ll see a large rock that looks like a house. People have painted a door and a window on it. There’s even a satellite dish. Stop there. Fish downriver. Don’t go upriver. The water is only three inches deep for a mile. Ask me how I know… […]
Summer of Small Streams
It’s been a strange summer here. One of those summers where plans were put in place, routes were mapped out and then everything changed. This happened to me a few times this summer, first when a new boat wandered into my life, then when I signed up for a course for my professional life and […]
Stolen Moments (or never send an angler to cover an event next to a river)
I’ve started writing more for my local paper, lately. It’s a fun way for me to get out and do a little bit of writing that is relatively easy and enjoyable. As part of my new beat, I was sent out to cover a local festival. As it happened, the festival was located next to […]