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Rescued by Fly Fishing
The tones went off at about 2:30 a.m., and I rolled out of my bunk at the fire station, rubbing sleep from my eyes. I stepped into my bunker gear and slid my arms into the sleeves of my coat like an automaton. The dispatcher’s voice was calm and measured despite her dire message: “Engine…
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Behind the Cover: ‘Want to see something cool?’
Gary LaFontaine characterized fly fishing as the the pursuit of perfect moments, and I like to think this image is a good expression of that idea.
My friend Ethan Winchester and I had met up in the northern tip of Michigan for a day of remote, small-stream brook trout fishing. After a session of sunrise bow-and-arrow casting in an open meadow, we hopped back into the truck and Ethan asked, “Want to see something cool?” We went to an upper reach…
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What are you fishing for?
Deb Turner had always loved fishing, but hadn’t been out for a number of years. Then she got a call from Casting for Recovery. “I’d never fly fished,” she recalled. “In fact, I think the last time that I’d gone fishing, it was with a Zebco rod for sunnies. But people kept saying that I…
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‘Fly fishing has been the ideal mechanism for coping’
“Fly fishing has it all—physical exercise, mental relief, lifelong learning and a chance to share the passion with others. It’s all-encompassing.” Dr. Alexander Vu Alex Vu and his family fled Vietnam in 1979 after the war and communist takeover, and landed in America as refugees. It was his experience as a stranger in a strange…
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Fishing isn’t just about catching fish
My son Casey and I recently went out for shad on a cold and blustery day.When we arrived at Fletcher’s Boathouse on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., Alex, the manager, warned us not to row too far. “I just finished bringing someone back who got stuck in the wind, and I almost didn’t make…
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What are you really fishing for?
WHAT ARE YOU REALLY FISHING FOR? By Kirk Deeter I’m still not sure some of my friends, colleagues and even family members begin to understand why I’m so enamored with fly fishing. “Oh, you went fishing today, did you have a good time?” they ask. “Yep,” I answer. “It rained most of the day. There…
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Pandemic gold rush
A backcountry trek in the Sierra to catch Goldens.
Don From Bakersfield has a thing for coyotes. You can tell by the way he speaks about them, his eyes firing and his voice low. “So I see him crouched on the ground, just down in the meadow right over there, licking his lips. And then I saw the marmots.” We’re at 11,000 feet in…
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