Big Wood River

“Photo: Hillary Maybery “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald The rivers continue to drop, cool, and clear. The trout are becoming more aggressive, feeding on revitalized late-season hatches. The foliage is beginning to turn from…”

“Photo: James Conrad “Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant — there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” – Georgia O’Keeffe Every cast counts, whether or not it ends in a fish. The value isn’t in the outcome. It’s in the act of reaching toward…”

“Photo: Hillary Maybery “Rhythm was just as important as color and just as complicated. It was one rhythm superimposed upon another, our father’s four-count rhythm of the line and wrist being still the base rhythm… The canyon was glorified by rhythms and colors.” – Norman Maclean…”

“Photo: Hillary Maybery “Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” – Berthold Auerbach For anglers, the river’s symphony washes from the soul the dust of everyday life — the swell and hush of the current, the riffle’s rush of white noise, the promise of a…”

““When we first begin fighting for a dream, we have no experience and make mistakes. The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” – Paulo Coelho The trout don’t care if you botch your presentation — if you fail, learn and adjust your next shot.…”

““To put your hands in a river is to feel the chords that bind the earth together.” – Barry Lopez When you wade a river for a season, it begins to shape your imagination. You become connected to its vicissitudes and your heart ripples to its iron strings. The water’s rhythm gets…”

“Photo by: Bob Knoebel “Our senses exist mainly to refine, or error-correct, our minds’ best guesses as to what we’re experiencing.” – Michael Pollan Every cast is a prediction, a question seeking resolution. The standard operating mode of a persistent angler is…”

“Photo by: Randy Ashton “Meaning, as well as water, can be impounded: can still and settle behind dam walls of thought.” – Robert Macfarlane There is no need to discard a lifetime of accumulated skill; however, breaking the dam of habit allows the river, and the angler, a chance…”

“Photo by: Randy Ashton “A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between work and play; labor and leisure; mind and body; education and recreation. He hardly knows which is which.” – Lawrence Pearsall Jacks A master in the art of fly fishing is skilled enough to…”

“Photo by Sofia DeWolfe “Our fate flows with that of rivers –– and always has.” – Robert Macfarlane Asking “How’s the fishing?” is the same as asking “How’s the river?”—which is the same as asking “How’s the world?” Wading in water helps you understand that you’re part of…”

“Photo by Sofia DeWolfe “Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” – Attributed to John Muir This Father’s Day weekend, take the path less traveled and head to the river. Make another memory with your dad that you’ll be talking about for years. Silver…”

“Photo by Alex Long “In English, there is no verb ‘to river’. But what could be more of a verb than a river?” – Robert Macfarlane When a river and an angler meet a sort of conjugation occurs. Grammatically speaking, to fly fish well is to river. Silver Creek The Brown Drake hatch…”

““Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.” – Isaac Asimov Certainly, a mentor or a guide can help; however, the best way to learn is by doing the thing. Silver Creek The Brown Drakes started last week as predicted. Thanks to the…”