The Best Fly Fishing is Everywhere - 01.09.2026
Ramblings & Readings, Creativity & Conservation, Happenings & Hope
My Fishy Friends,
In a recent attempt to organize my winter steelhead flies, I realized that I probably wouldn’t ever tie on many of them, so they were moved to the archive. I then promptly tied two flies based on the conditions I expected to find the following day; I was close, but could’ve been closer. This is all to say, I either need to tie some flies, or reduce my expectations of having the perfect fly. Probably both.
Cheers,
Jesse
Banner photo: There’s a super-cool rapid just downstream of here.
Bush Pilot Angler
The saying goes, “There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots.” In Lee Wulff’s Bush Pilot Angler, he lives this out this phrase as he recounts tales of his exploratory flying and angling missions in Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1940’s and ‘50s. I was once again reminded that there are very few new ideas when it comes to fly fishing these days, but when it comes to Lee, there were many. The old video “Wings for an Angler” is a nice complement to this memoir as well.
Undammed
It seems ‘the largest dam removal in history’ is happening over and over again, from one side of the country to the other. A new book by Tara Lohan titled Undammed explores the myriad benefits that arise from these removals, especially as they relate to our communities. You can register for a free, virtual chat with the author here, and read more of Lohan’s dam writing on her website.
REK & McMurtry
For years, I’ve claimed that my favorite ‘genre’ of music is Texas-country-folk-bluegrass-rock, which is essntially a phrase I also use to describe Robert Earl Keen Jr. to new listeners. If one were to judge ‘favorite’ musicians by the number of times they’ve seen them live, then REK would be at the top of my list. By the same rating, James McMurtry (who falls into that same ‘genre’) is probably in the top 10. McMurtry’s songwriting is superb; his lyrics simple yet contemplative. One can only assume that he inherited some writing genes from his father, who penned Lonesome Dove. A favorite lyric of his, topical to this newsletter:
Gonna rest my soul
By this fishing hole
Gonna watch that pole
'Til that float goes under
The two caught up in conversation in REK’s Americana Podcast. Check it out on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Cronin Sketches The Road
If there’s one thing I can say about anglers, it’s that we’re magnetic—we seem to find one another. Rick Cronin lives near where I grew up and, as you might guess, is a fly angler, among other creative pursuits, including drawing. Cronin recently embarked on a road trip around the States, stopping as he pleases to sketch the local, rural scenery. He’s also making notes for a local newspaper; you can read his first installment here, and start to follow along. It’s interesting to hear what an angler notices when they’re on the road and not angling. Safe travels, Rick!
Available to Pre-order!
In case you missed it, as the kids say, my book The Best Fly Fishing is Everywhere is now available to pre-order. My local fly shop The Caddis Fly is taking orders now for signed and personalized books—follow this link to get yours!
The Least Interesting Thing About Fishing
…so it is, in the end, a very good thing, to teach a man, or a woman, or a child of any gender, to fish, as there is much more to be learned by fishing than how to catch fish; indeed how to catch fish is perhaps the least interesting thing about fishing, and there must be many people who go fishing not for fish but for something else altogether, so that when you ask them if they had a successful day fishing, and they say yes, but they have no fish, you know exactly what they mean, because you feel that way also.
~ From Brian Doyle’s essay “Fishing in the Pacific Northwest”
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