A New Season’s Topography

I’m just dying to get on the river, but the weather and prospects for local fishing in the winter is pretty low. In anticipation of the new season, I bring you something a little different: me reading the post to you.

Aspiring Writers: 2010 Traver Writing Award

The 2010 Robert Traver Fly-Fishing Writing Award sponsored by Fly Rod and Reel is now accepting entries.

Book Review – Inventing Montana – Ted Leeson

Ted Leeson has been one of my favorite authors since his first book in 1994, The Habit of Rivers. Inventing Montana has a lot more personal feel and more humor than his previous works. For those of you who might have tried Leeson before but didn’t quite get into it, give this one a try. For those who already enjoy Leeson, you’ll love the extra dimensions this book adds to his repertoire.

The Convergence of Canals and Fish

Logan, in northern Utah, was not much different than most early Mormon settlements. White settlers first arrived in 1859 and located near the Logan River. They planted crops, diverted the North Branch of the Logan River for irrigation, and the settlement grew. Canals and ditches were expanded and added to meet the city’s growing needs. Mills sprouted along the canals. Still more people arrived and with them came changes: adobe walls replaced logs, clapboard replaced adobe and brick replaced clapboard. However, one constant through the changes were the canals. Mills along the canals came and went, but the canals remained.

Lost in Wyoming: Stories – My Book Review

My review of Scott Sadil’s latest book, Lost in Wyoming: Stories. This is a collection of 12 short stories, and 11 of them deal with fly fishing in some way or another, but they are really stories about relationships.

The Nostalgia of Homewater

We often think of home as a place of origin or place we currently live. But in this post I’m referring to one’s homewater as that place in which one finds refuge; a place where one is secure or happy.

“Where Rivers Change Direction” – My Book Review

My Book Review of “Where Rivers Change Direction,” which is an excellent memoir of a boy growing up on a dude ranch in rural Wyoming. This is not a fly fishing book, but is set in Wyoming, near Yellowstone. Many anglers fish here, and I thought might be interested in a book about the area.

“Northwest of Normal” – My Book Review

My book review of the fly fishing novel, Northwest of Normal by John Larison.

“Turning Over Small Stones”

An exceptional blog about fly fishing comes to us from Eccles at “Turning Over Small Stones.” Using science, wit and an educated mind, he tackles fly fishing issues.

Anglers and Authors—Deceivers and Manipulators

Anglers make good authors because they are natural storytellers, especially catch and release anglers—when they walk away from the river, the only thing they take away is a story. But there is an even stronger link between the two: anglers and authors are both natural deceivers and manipulators.

Last Hole – a poem

I’m no poet, although I’d love to be. As always, feel free to comment—I can take the heat.
Last Hole
Was this the hole,
where limestone walls shoulder the margin
between earth and sky?
He bends into the current,
casts about forgotten water thickened by rains.
Forgotten waters, patterns, faces—
even the name of this disease.
His fly skitters across the surface,
vees the liquid [...]

An Angler’s Progress – My Review at Goodreads.com

The Next Valley Over: An Angler’s Progress by Charles Gaines
My review
rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book is the reason I wrote the “Braggarts R Us” post.
Foreward by Terry McDonell:

“Charles Gaines is a handsome man…The perfect cast has been his forever and he is a confident man… [he is:] so deeply eccentric and graceful in [...]

Braggarts R Us?

This post was prompted by my reading the book, The Next Valley Over: An Angler’s Progress, by Charles Gaines (a complete review of that book is here, which isn’t flattering to the author because he frequently comes across to me as bragging). As I contemplated Gaines’ motives for writing that book, it caused me to [...]

Book Reviews

I’m a bit behind, so here are four book reviews:

Cutthroat: Native Trout of the West (nonfiction)
Travers Corners (fiction)
The Run to Gitche Gumee (fiction)
Killing trout and Other Love Poems (poetry)

Fly Fishing – Literature – Randy Kadish

I’m always on the lookout for some fresh reading material. Several months ago, while reading Tom Chandler’s excellent blog, “The Trout Underground,” I noticed a little something he had about Goodreads.com. It’s a social networking site for book lovers. You can get online to find books to read, write review for books, discuss books with [...]