Tag: fly fishing jazz

I’VE BEEN TO A LOT of great concerts in my life. I believe that the live performance trumps any recording one might hear through speakers or earphones. It’s one thing to hear it; it’s an entirely better experience to see it and hear it at the same time. One of the best live shows I’ve seen happened many years ago (mid 80s) when I dragged my...

I had dinner with my good friend John Merwin the other night. John has written 15 of the most read, most quoted books on fishing, his career as a magazine editor is legendary, and he’s a co-editor-at-large for Field & Stream. In a nutshell, when Merwin talks, Deeter listens. So I was happy to hear him say that he not only enjoys “Fly Fishing...

THE MUSICIAN OFTEN finds himself (or herself) fending off demons on two fronts. On the one hand, there’s the solitary challenge. Truth be told, this is (as it should be) the ultimate test. No musician, and no angler, can really aspire to true greatness until they find themselves in a place where they become their own greatest critic. When you can...

AN ANGLER'S GREATEST teacher is ultimately himself or herself. When you reach a level where you recognize your own mistakes, and improvise your own opportunities, that’s when you’re playing your best, and catching more fish. You can read books and articles, hire guides, take classes (all of which will no doubt help shorten the learning curve), but in...

I know Buffalo Springfield has nothing to do with “jazz.” But this is a good story, and it revolves around both music and fly fishing, so hear me out. Several years ago, a writer in his late 30s found himself behind the wheel of a Jeep Cherokee, owned by another writer in his late 60s, wheeling through the dry-wash landscape on I-80 in southern Wyoming...

SOME YEARS AGO, Andrew Steketee and I were in the middle phases of writing a book on fly fishing guides (titled Castwork, which would ultimately launch our respective fly fishing writing/editing careers) when we chanced upon Pete Cardinal on the Missouri River in Montana. Of all the quotes from any of the remarkable guides in that book, the one that haunts...

I DON'T KNOW why more fly fishers don’t fall in love with a single rod and stick with it forever. My tackle retailer and manufacturer friends will hate me for saying that, but I think it’s an interesting and worthwhile question to consider. It seems to me that fly fishers are swept up in the marketing hype—the faster, further, stronger...

MOST MUSICIANS will tell you that their “sound” was born of many influences—other artists that caught their ears, and inspired them to imitate, experiment, and ultimately expand. For example, I’ve always found it interesting how Robert Johnson, Brownie McGhee, and Muddy Waters helped form the guitar playing of  Eric Clapton. Before the Beatles...

THE OTHER DAY I was helping my 11-year-old son play “Jingle Bells” on the piano. And it occurred to me that sometimes, the trickiest tunes to learn to play off sheet music are the ones you already hear in your ear, because your mind wants to go in a certain direction, when in fact, the notes are actually telling your fingers to go in another. I’ve...

Well, if I’m a bug or a baitfish, a worm or a leech that trout like to eat, odds are, I am not blue. In fact, you can turn over a million rocks in a river, and (unfortunately) you’re more likely to encounter a blue bottle cap or other piece of debris than something that’s bright blue. I’m not talking about Blue Dun blue, or Blue-winged Olive blue...