You know you have a fishing problem when you schedule a knee surgery around your fishing schedule! I’ve been trying to see how long I can go catching at least one fish a month. When I tore my meniscus earlier this year I postponed the surgery . . .
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Podcast: Creeped Out in Lordville
This week, I had a couple guests lined up, but we had to reschedule. Since I have not done a new podcast in a few weeks because of my travel schedule, I decided to tell a story. It’s from a magazine piece I did a number of years ago for the now-defunct . . .
Read More“Porcupine Brook,” by William G. Tapply
Finding a wild-brook-trout stream by accident is the best part about wandering through the woods.
Photo by Phil Monahan
I happened upon Porcupine Brook while exploring some promising woodcock cover last October. Burt, my Brittany, had wandered off, as he often does, and when I could no longer hear his bell. . .
Read MoreStory and Photos: A Four Corners Fly-Fishing Extravaganza
We launched our journey from scalding hot valley of Phoenix, and headed for the 46-degree Colorado River tailwater in Lee’s Ferry. We were lucky enough to catch a special time on this unbelievable fishery, the summer cicada sing. This white noise . . .
Read MoreVideo: How Fly Fishing Helps a Cy Young Award Winner Center Himself
When the 2015 baseball season ended, Boston Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello knew that he’d not lived up to his promise. He’d need to refocus himself during the off-season, and fly-fishing played a big part in finding his mojo again. The next year, he led the . . .
Read MoreClassic Fish Story: The Hot Dog Trout
Written by: Bryan Eldredge
Guide Bryan Eldredge with his improvised hot-dog-fork
Photo courtesy Bryan Eldredge
My teenage daughter’s text message said, “You’re stupid for running out of gas!” I knew she was kidding, but I was stupid. And the real stupidity was that I had run out of gas along Utah’s Provo River with a truckload of fishing gear, . . .
Read MoreVideo and Story: “Overboard” on the Green River
It’s 2011. I’m on Utah’s Green River shooting my first film for Trout Unlimited. The Green is a marvelous blue ribbon running through red rock. I need to see every stretch of it because there’s . . .
Read MoreEssay and Photos: Fishing For Change in Honduras
There have been just a few experiences in my life that have rearranged my list of priorities and changed the course of my decisions. If you asked me to describe them and their impact on me, you would probably get a poorly articulated but . . .
Read MorePhotos: No Pain, No Gain for High-Country Colorado Trout
This year has been a slow one for me when it comes to getting out and fly fishing. I’ll admit challenge to myself to catch a fish in every month of the year has been going slowly, but it’s still going. At the beginning of June, I caught a small bass out of the . . .
Read More“(Dis)comfort” by William G. Tapply
Written by: William G. Tapply
Bill Tapply fishes a Vermont brook-trout stream in the summer of 2008.
Photo by Phil Monahan
[Editor’s note: When I was the editor of American Angler, I had the pleasure of working with William G. Tapply for ten years before his death in the summer of 2009. He was far and away the best writer I have edited, and we developed a friendship around our shared angling and literary interests. He wrote books and articles on fishing and hunting, as well as great mystery novels that often featured fly-fishing. Bill’s wife, the author Vicki Stiefel, has graciously allowed me to reprint some of his columns and articles here. If you are not familiar with Bill’s work, I encourage you to check out his website and the links below. Many of the books in Bill’s list here are out of print, but it is well worth your time to run down copies, which can usually be found online. I’ve included links to the Amazon pages for each book. ]
Phil and I were sitting on the back bumpers of our cars, breaking down our rods after an afternoon of so-so fishing on the Deerfield River in western Massachusetts. He held up a bottle of. . .
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