Books
April Vokey Publishes a New Children's Book
April Vokey—well-known steelhead angler, guide, and host of the Anchored Podcast—has published her first children’s book, The World Through Her Eyes. The book follows April and her daughter, Adelaide, as they explore fly fishing and nature from a child’s perspective. According to Vokey, her goal is to inspire the next generation of anglers to see...
In Pursuit of the Ancient Tarpon of the Everglades
Monte Burke has made a name for himself as the preeminent chronicler of modern fly fishing for tarpon. If you haven't yet read his Lords of the Fly: Madness, Obsession, and the Hunt for the World-Record Tarpon, you're missing out. In the latest issue of Garden&Gun magazine, Burke writes about a trip in the Everglades with legendary guide Steve Huff: I...
Yvon Chouinard Preaches Simplicity at Recent Appearance
Simplicity has been at the heart of Yvon Chouinard's philosophy for a long time, and it was a message he continued to hammer home at a recent appearance at Montana State University in Bozeman: While fly shops overflow with millions of patterns designed to separate anglers from their money, Chouinard spent a year proving you can catch fish anywhere in the...
Podcast: The Mysterious Mary Orvis Marbury, with Historian Steve Woit
[Interview starts at 37:50] Mary Orvis Marbury, daughter of Orvis founder Charles F. Orvis, is an important figure in the history of American fly fishing. She was the first person to catalog and standardize American fly patterns, but she led a sad and mysterious life. Historian Steve Woit has written an expansive and spectacular...
5 Best Fly Fishing Books
Anytime we talk about "the best," we're wading into subjective territory. That's why I hesitate to ever call a fly rod, or waders, or any other gear I review, "the best." They might be the best for me, but my experience isn't all-encompassing. So, it's interesting that Jasper Taback, over at Sports Illustrated, decided to pick the five best fly fishing...
Lani Waller's "Grasshopper Bridge"
Lani Waller needs no introduction for steelheaders, as he was one of the most respected steelhead anglers and teachers before he passed away in 2024. His big project was a film series about catching steelhead, which is widely regarded as one of the best educational film series ever produced. In addition to that, he wrote a few books and contributed to Fly...
Jimmy Carter and Fly Fishing
Before he passed away on December 29th, Jimmy Carter was the oldest living former president (he celebrated his 100th birthday this year) and there's been a host of new stories, books, and other media recently produced about him. One that has flown relatively under-the-radar is a new book by Jim Barger titled Jimmy Carter: Rivers and Dreams. It details...
Book Review: Chasing the Dark
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...
Book Review: The Believer
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...
John Giearch Q&A
John Gierach sat down with the folks over at Field & Stream for a Q&A session, discussing his newest book All the Time in the World. The Q&A is typical Gierach, so fans of his writing should love this extra glimpse into his life. You can read it here.