The trailer tires rolled back with an audible squelch, sinking past the axles into the rich black mud of the Louisiana marsh. “How’s that look?” I called out the open window of my 4Runner, which was locked in four-wheel drive. “Great, babe,” my wife, Tracy, replied from the narrow shoulder of the highway, where she stood casually assembling an 8-weight fly rod. I set the emergency brake, rechecked to make sure my rig was still on dry ground, and began loading the boat.
The wind veered again, this time blowing straight up the Kaldakvísl River in Iceland’s Central Highlands. Shivering, I tugged my hood around so it covered the left half of my face. The rain squall—just short of freezing—rattled against my jacket like sleet on a tin roof. It was late June, but the weather was miserable; Iceland was suffering through its wettest summer in a century, causing landslides in some areas not seen in a thousand years; one slide wiped out a famous salmon stream, forming a new lake.
THE EERIE GREEN GLOW WAS THE EXACT COLOR THAT HOLLYWOOD USES TO DEPICT SOMETHING RADIOACTIVE. The light hung in the black depths of the lake, like a star in outer space. It was after midnight on a cloudy night with a new moon, so there was no horizon, making it nearly impossible to tell up from down. The effect was disorienting. Our trolling motor whirred softly, drawing us into casting range—into orbit.
TIME ROLLED BACKWARD as my wheels rolled north. When I left my home down south, it was earliest spring. Turkeys blasted the …
S TINGING NETTLES, it turns out, look a whole lot like mint. I figured this out the hard way when I …
Mousin’ by mothership, on Argentina’s Río Paraná. [Story by Zach Matthews / Photos by Zach Matthews & Rebecca Shaneyfelt] THE MOUSE LOOKED FRIGHTENED. …
Headhunting for big trout in the heart of Patagonia. T HE WIND IS NO JOKE. That’s the first thing they ought to …
Fly Rod & Reel Magazine has partnered with Thomas & Thomas and is sending a 9-foot 7-weight Solar rod around the …
S tanding on the prow of a 12-foot-long johnboat, wielding a trident and a waterproof car headlight (both on long poles), I …
A friend once “punked” me by yanking on my fly line. It was a crisp February morning just before dawn, and we …
T he wind was ripping right along, so fast that if I’d been on the water, the whitecaps would have been tearing …
A TLANTA, YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND, is not a particularly good fishing town. We have a striped bass run, as well as …
M any outdoor product companies have a great origin story. Patagonia and The North Face (and eventually Black Diamond and ESPRIT) famously …
T HE INSIDE OF my Buff smells like socks. Five days into a Mexican flats fishing trip, with only the local graywater to wash …
F ly line rips the river’s surface like scissors sliding across silk as Michael McLellan propels his two-handed, Scottish-style fly rod …
Don’t miss my cover story in January 2015’s Arkansas Life magazine, a collaboration with the spectacular photographers of Hatch & Maas Collective, on hunters …
The British e-magazine Eat, Sleep, Fish, asked for an interview about this website. It was fun taking a step back and …
T he waters below Beaver Dam, tucked into the Ozark hills northeast of Fayetteville, are icy even in the heart of summer. …
This article originally ran in the Spring 2014 issue of Life Refined magazine. Today’s bamboo fly rod makers connect anglers to the history …
Note: This article originally ran in the September 2013 issue of Arkansas Life magazine. It has nothing to do with fishing. “WOOOOOOO. …
This article originally ran in the Angling Adventures 2012 issue of Fly Rod & Reel Magazine. All of us dream of adventure—the three-day …
Note: This article originally ran in the Autumn 2014 issue of Fly Rod & Reel magazine. It was an honor to be …
As told on Arkansas’ White River. (This story originally ran in the Winter 2013/2014 issue of The Drake). TAKE A MINUTE to consider …
This article originally ran in the summer 2014 issue of Fly Rod & Reel magazine. ROTO-MOLDED COOLERS are all the rage these days. In …
A few weeks ago I got a little frustrated with the unpredictability of the generation schedule at Morgan Falls Dam on the …
