The Water Calls – fishing and advevnture stories from Douglas Paton
“Having any luck?” the man asked. “I’ve managed to get into some trout,” I replied. “How about yourself, any luck?” “A few fly poops,” he said. “Nothing much more than that.” I had been watching the man sift through the dirt at the side of the river for a while now. I’d been chasing a […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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… […]
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 […]
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 […]
Life is funny. One second you’re sitting on the couch enjoying a quiet evening and then, out of the blue, you get a message about a boat. Now, as an angler and a life-long lover of boats, it’s not that unusual for me to get messages about boat. In fact, it happens fairly regularly. This time, […]
I can’t believe it’s been three months since I last sit down to write something. Mostly because it also means it’s been three months since I did any fishing. I mean, I’ve been out a few times, but the conditions weren’t great and the fish weren’t biting. Any writing I would have done would have […]
The low cloud and fog didn’t offer up a lot of hope for a beautiful day as I had my morning coffee, but I really didn’t care. One way or another, I was going fishing. There had been a few weeks where a cold snap, illness and work had all conspired to keep me house-bound. As […]