Tag: books

“The first rule of this river is that you don’t talk about this river. At least by name.” That’s how the text read. “Understood.” This was starting to feel a little like Fight Club, the much-maligned late-nineties flick where Edward Norton is beaten into a new, self-reflexive consciousness, or some such bullshit. My buddy, Jon Osborn, was taking...

"Dams, dude."

I first read one of Joseph Jackson's stories in Fly Fisherman Magazine a few years ago. It was one of the most impressive travel stories I'd read in recent years, and I didn't recognize his name, so I looked him up. It turns out he's a native Wyomingite who now lives in Alaska, and he loves fly fishing and bird hunting. I'm a native Utahn who now lives in...

Introduction  Some striper anglers and captains told me writing this book would be folly because you can’t successfully target big stripers on flies. I told them I can name at least 10 people who have dedicated themselves to doing so for decades. Most I’ve included in this book. Several of the best anglers I know, including one IGFA Hall of Fame...

The last fish I would catch before becoming a father comes on the penultimate day of the trip. I am back with the crew for the morning. And not just the crew—a group of podcasters and videographers has arrived, and we are now nine strong, needing three boats to get around. We fish out the morning but by lunch one of the newcomers isn’t looking so good...

David Coggins' new book The Believer was recently reviewed in Hatch Magazine by James Joiner. Coggins is the author of The Optimist, his first book on fly fishing. He's also a culture and style columnist in New York City. The Believer focuses on a year in Coggins' fly fishing life as he chases some of fly fishing's toughest catches. Joiner has...

"This little river runs next to my house in Västerbotten. It's wonderful to have a place you can go even if you just have half an hour to spend. And when the time is limited, bird watching is a perfect activity. It was once a swamp, but the beavers have moved downstream. It's sad but has also made the place accessible without canoe."

Skunked Late one summer night in Michigan—immediately after I let Sunny out for his evening constitutional—the hypersensitive olfactory nerves in his snout sent an urgent signal to the olfactory bulb in his brain, and that triggered his legs to propel his body on a beeline toward a small stand of birch trees in our yard. The siren that drew him wasn’t...

Be brave and walk through the country of your own wild heart. Be gentle and know you know nothing. Be still. Listen. Keep walking. —Mirabai Starr I once met a man called “Musky Jesus.” That wasn’t his real name of course, but it might be a more accurate description of this quiet young man than the name he was given—Gabe. He got that nickname from...

Do you believe in unicorns? I know my young daughters used to. I’m still on the fence with the idea, but there is a small part of me that wants to believe. I believe in Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, so why not unicorns as well? When you look up the word “unicorn” in the dictionary, there are two definitions. The first is the one we all instantly...