The Best Fly Fishing is Everywhere - 10.24.2025
Ramblings & Readings, Creativity & Conservation, Happenings & Hope
My Fishy Friends,
What’s better than poring over a river map with a friend, pointing at this run and that run, remembering this fish and that fish, forgetting that pool and the other pool, telling one story and another and another, all the while plotting as heart rates rise?
Cheers,
Jesse
Banner photo: Aerial photo of upper McKenzie River, courtesy of Uncle Frank
New from DJD
An email received last week notified me that author David James Duncan has started a Substack page, and he’s since posted two essays. The first, entitled “A Door,” takes place knee-deep in Montana’s Clark Fork River and, as is the case with most Duncan writing, covers topics as broad as mayflies and reincarnation. “We hear nothing so clearly as what arrives out of stillness,” Duncan writes.
A Tribute to the Mighty Colorado River
“The American Southwest,” a film tribute to the mighty Colorado River was recently released and is now available across a variety of platforms. With eye-popping footage across the river’s giant journey from the Rockies to the Gulf of California, I think there’s something for everyone here. As narrator Quannah Chasinghorse puts it, “Water is the divine force in this unforgiving landscape.”
Joan at 99
The First Lady of Fly Fishing, Joan Wulff, celebrated her 99th birthday this week. In her honor, the American Museum of Fly Fishing posted some fun, old photos on Instagram and also has a great biographical piece on Joan on their website. If you’ve never seen Joan in action, I highly recommend checking out some of her videos, especially one of the old films with her late husband, Lee. I saw Joan at a trade show years ago, but chickened out to introduce myself. She smiled at me anyway. Bless her heart!
Some Sasquatch Speak
I learned this week that October 20th is National Sasquatch Awareness Day… which means that Bigfoot is definitely real. Right? Or do need some quotations, and say that Bigfoot is “real”? To consider these questions, I pose this quote from singer-songwriter Todd Snider: “Real compared to what?” Anyway, some Sasquatch speak over the last week or so, with this article in The Oregonian, along with the sad news that Sasquatch scholar Jeffrey Meldrum of Idaho had passed. It’s all been top of mind since we floated by the gravel bar island where Caddis Fly Shop owner Chris Daughters’ encounter took place seventeen years ago (start watching at 1:37).
Know This
Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We will get there someday.
~ Winnie the Pooh
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this newsletter, please send it to a friend.
If this email sent to you by a friend, click here to subscribe.
