The Best Fly Fishing is Everywhere - 11.14.2025
Ramblings & Readings, Creativity & Conservation, Happenings & Hope
My Fishy Friends,
This week, I have a couple of requests:
I’ve seen some wild photos of recent Northern Lights showings this week, but we were cloud-covered here in Oregon — please send me your pics!
I’m curious if anyone has a good review on any fly fishing chest packs — new or old. If you got any thoughts, send ‘em my way!
Anyone who can provide a photo of a chest pack being worn under the Northern Lights will get my praises!
Cheers,
Jesse
Banner photo: My most literal home pool.
Just Grand
When a place, or a person, or an idea comes onto my radar repeatedly over the course of a week or two, I take note. In this week’s case, it was the Grand Canyon and river trips down the Colorado. What popped up for me specifically: the latest OARS print catalog which details all their multi-day river trips including the Grand (when do river permit lotteries open??); the audiobook version of The Emerald Mile, which is free on Spotify; this film about dory river-runner and conservationist Martin Litton; and, to top it all off, an email from the National Park Service advertising last-minute “Available Grand Canyon River Launch Dates.” For a link-filled rabbit hole, check out OARS’ landing page on the Grand.
In TDF…
As mentioned many times before, and as will be mentioned many times again, I LOVE when worlds collide, and friends become friends. It gets me excited! Such was the case when Jason Rolfe, editor at The Flyfish Journal (which just launched a new website) and founder of Writers on the Fly, traveled with Jake Crawford of Fly Water Travel, to Tierra del Fuego for a fishing adventure last year. Their trip — or some stories from it — is now available to read in the latest issue of FFJ, along with a new video short featuring the great ramblings of a guide at Despedida Lodge.
River Radius Pod
I’ve been a subscriber/follower of The River Radius Podcast for some time, and their episodes continue to entertain and inspire me. As described on their website, River Radius is “a podcast that works to capture the culture of those running rivers, working on and with rivers, using water from rivers and conserving the quality of rivers.” There are interviews with authors, highlights of conservation issues, inquiries into river culture, and more. Check out their catalog of episodes on their website, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.
On Gear Maintenance
When it comes to fishing and outdoor gear organization, I consider myself mostly-disciplined; I like things in their places, as my friends and partner will attest. But when it comes to gear maintenance, I rate myself much lower — moderately-responsible, at most. So, even though this upcoming (and free!) online seminar is targeted towards gear fishing, it caught my eye. There is always something to be learned, and especially from the gear anglers who fish in saltwater. Put on by Rhode Island’s The Saltwater Edge, I’m sure there’ll be something worth noting in this one. It’s next Thursday, 11/20.
Spawning Salmon
A few days earlier it had been raining and I had spent some time walking along a small stream full of spawning cohos. Many were already dead or dying. I have fished for salmon all my life and their cycle forms a perfect paradox: they have come to spawn and inevitably die, yet they are as magnificent in their being as they will ever be.
~ Russell Chatham
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