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Is this Heaven?
No, Morgan ... it's Idaho I had just finished leveling the camper when Morgan pulled up in his white sedan. It’s a process—leveling the camper—made a bit more complicated thanks to a slightly hyper mutt running around while I work the jacks, wondering why we can’t just go straight to the creek. “Who cares if…
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Desert rainbows
On a map, it doesn’t look all that far. A quick jaunt up the freeway. A race across a sea of potato fields and a good section of the Idaho National Laboratory, where plans are in place to build a dozen modular nuclear reactors to help power some 36 western communities starting in less than…
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Summer is for sun(fish)
Before trout came bluegills.Not in a biological evolutionary way, but for me in a fly fishing evolutionary way.I grew up in trout country in Southern Oregon but wasn’t a fly angler. My trout rod was a little Eagle Claw ultralight spinning rig, my tackle box full of Pautzke Balls O’ Fire Salmon eggs, Velveeta cheese,…
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Looking for America
A drive deep into the West can heal the soul and freshen commitment to causes
The original plan was to drive east to meet my wife’s family in North Carolina. The time away from her mother, sisters and Gus’ cousins had been torture, but every state along our route was preparing to open up while the virus was still out of control. As we saw it, forcing customers and employees…
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Finding a balance between teaching and fishing
By Mark Taylor Beck had just made a nice cast, his lure landing in a shady spot next to the James River’s bank, when he did something you don’t expect from a 15-year-old. He admitted he was clueless “When I go to a store and look at all the fishing lures, I have no idea…
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Purpose found in fly fishing
Find purpose through fly fishing
Lately, I’ve been contemplating my purpose. How exactly does one figure out what their purpose is? And how do we make the most of our short time here on earth with the most purpose? Life’s big questions are best answered, for me at least, while in a river. I’m not sure I have it figured out yet, but filling my life…
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The hex hatch
Over the weekend I spent a total of 12 hours fishing. I landed two fish to show for it. It was nonetheless supremely satisfying. And no, I wasn’t fishing for steelhead. About 100 miles north of Lake Tahoe a lovely reservoir lies resplendent, framed by ponderosa pines, Douglas fir and the southern terminus of the…
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