The Best Fly Fishing is Everywhere - 01.16.2025
Ramblings & Readings, Creativity & Conservation, Happenings & Hope
My Fishy Friends,
Have you been fishing yet this year? Have you caught a fishy? Did it take a fly that you thought it would, or one you hadn’t considered? Had you seen it, or felt it near? Did it leap and catch a glimpse of you, or remain stubbornly submerged? How did the water feel when you held the fish? How did you feel?
Cheers,
Jesse
P.S.—Pre-orders for my book are still live, get yours here!
Banner photo: The first of many, many, many casts that trip; taken a while back.
Steelhead Stories
I came across the YouTube channel American Currents: Stories on the Fly a few weeks back, and have especially enjoyed the earnestness in their short films, many of which are shot on Idaho’s Clearwater River. The general format features a longtime angler, reflecting and storytelling—yarnin’ and yawnin’ as some may say—a couple activities that I am particularly fond of, and believe hold immeasurable value. For starters, check out this episode with Nez Perce elder Levi Carson.
Saving Salmon Podcast
The Atlantic Salmon Federation recently launched a new podcast series entitled Saving Salmon. Eight episodes are available now, and they alternate between place-based reporting and storytelling, and human-based interviews and profiles. The very first episode talks about the famous Miramichi in New Brunswick, and a later episode focuses on Maine’s Penobscot, where dam removals and other restoration efforts are helping to protect and restore salmon populations. Find the podcast on their website, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
Blaze’s Cold, Cold World
In last week’s newsletter, I talked about my affinity for Texas-country-folk-bluegrass-rock, and doing so sent me down a rabbit hole of old favorites. While in that rabbit hole, my partner shared this staggering and sobering (for the reader) article of short stories about singer-songwriter Blaze Foley. Even if you don’t know Blaze, if you’re a fan of ‘good’ country music, I can guarantee one or both of the following: you’ve heard one of his songs; you listen to some artists that were friends with Blaze. This may be his most well-known tune, and this is my personal most-listened-to tune, but this may be the most topical (in my opinion).
Pam Houston on Ranching
Imagine my surprise when I started reading Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country, by Pam Houston—an author whose name had been floating around my world for a half-year or so, but I’d only read essays from—when the opening chapter revealed that she lives in a place where I used to work as a fishing guide! Turn out that Houston lives outside of Creede, Colorado, as I used to do. That opening chapter was previously published in Outside Magazine, and can be read online here, if you haven’t used all your free articles or have a subscription.
Photo by Pam Houston.
Famous
The phrase famous poet, like famous fishing guide, constitutes a whopping oxymoron. So when compliments are dispersed, it is often with reservation and qualification…Prime examples why, like writing, fishing is a perfect job for those who prefer talking to themselves to talking to others.
~ Chris Dombrowski
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