The Best Fly Fishing is Everywhere - 01.17.2025

Ramblings & Readings, Creativity & Conservation, Happenings & Hope

My Fishy Friends,

On my desk sits a small pile of flies that will most likely never touch water again. They have been set aside, saved, and secured for various reasons; each contains a story or two or more. To think that a little fly - metal hook, nylon thread, fur, feathers, flash - a piece of dust really, could be worth a thousand, or more, words. So this pile is a book, then. And when I finally get around to putting them in the cool piece of driftwood that I found… that’ll be a library, with no membership fees.

Cheers,
Jesse

Banner photo: A riser under Argentinian willows. If I remember correctly, I hooked this fish but I have no idea if I landed it.

MLK Jr.’s Mighty Waters

In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. day, here’s a link to Mighty Waters, a powerful film which follows Bimini (Bahamas) native and former fly fishing guide Ansil Saunders as he recounts his time with Dr. King on the island only days before King’s assassination. King left lasting impressions on Saunders, just as Saunders did on Bimini — for 41 days straight, he sat in the then-whites only Bimini Big Game Club without being served lunch. Then, thanks to Saunders, change came. The film ends with with a psalm by Saunders that left me speechless. For more, here’s a bit of the backstory on the film as well.

How To Hermit

The story — legend is probably the better word — of the Maine Hermit resurfaced for me recently when I came across a copy of The Stranger in the Woods while browsing a local bookstore. The short version is that in 2013, after 27 consecutive years alone in the woods, a man was finally caught in the act of stealing non-perishable food from a private camp. This fascinating tale, by Michael Finkel, covers everything from how the hermit survived brutal Maine winters, to the benefits of solitude, to his motivations, how he was caught, the psychological effects he had on his victims, and more, including the question of whether or not he was actually a “hermit.” Here’s a shorter essay version which was published in GQ in 2014, and here’s a short video as well. Highly recommend.

Fresh Waters

It must be common behavior of all river- and fish-lovers to look down while driving over or standing atop a bridge above flowing water, and wonder what lies beneath the surface. And it may be that the clearer the water, the longer we gaze. For good reason because , as the Corvallis, Oregon based nonprofit Freshwaters Illustrated puts it, “the Earth's rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands are deeper than you think.” The FI website features the underwater photography of David Herasimtschuk, plus videos on a variety of topics related to the freshwaters of the world. Start browsing and see what lies beneath.

On Building a Lodge

I have worked at and on fly fishing lodges, and visited my fair share of them, but I certainly have not built one. That is what’s happening in Katmai National Park at Katmai Sky Lodge though, and there’s some really honest and entertaining storytelling and documentation about the experience coming out part by part on the Instagram page of the lodge. Orchestrated by Skylar and Chip Lamont, the latter of whom has some Maine roots of his own, the lodge is accepting guests this year for a glamping-type experience and plans to be fully operational next summer. Check out the lodge’s webpage for more information as well. Good luck to the crew!

Change It

You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can't, but also knowing that literature is indispensable to the world… The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way a person looks or people look at reality, then you can change it.

~ James Baldwin

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