The Best Fly Fishing is Everywhere - 10.25.2024
Ramblings & Readings, Creativity & Conservation, Happenings & Hope
My Fishy Friends,
This morning, as I prepared to make the 100-mile drive to the big city, I found frost on my windshield, an empty gas tank, and one half-deflated tire. So I was delayed a bit, but I’d like to think that led to my drive through the mist as it burned off, revealing a gorgeous, clear, and cool Oregon fall day. So I guess it was worth it. The rivers all looked extremely inviting as I sped past at 75 miles an hour, an NBA podcast on the speakers. Go C’s!
Cheers,
Jesse
Flies for Appalachia
In support of Hurricane Helene relief efforts in southern Appalachia, I’m offering two dozen of my favorite anadromous wet flies for auction, with all funds going to Manna Foodbank in Asheville, NC. See the flies, learn more about them, and bid by clicking below. As of now, there are NO BIDS!!
Larison’s Ancients
Oregon-based author, professor, and fly angler John Larison’s latest novel, The Ancients, was released last week and I had the good fortune of hearing him speak about and read from the book at Grass Roots Books & Music in Corvallis a few days ago. I’m a longtime fan of Larison and have all of his books - his primer on steelheading, his two earlier fly fishing novels, and the recent Whiskey When We’re Dry (he’s also a Writers on the Fly reader!) - but The Ancients is something completely different. Six years in the making, this novel took Larison on extensive research into past and future civilizations, environments, or models thereof, in its creation, and the result is ‘anti-apocalyptic climate fiction’. Just to set the stage, the title refers to us, now, today. Here’s a snippet. I’m saving this one for my cross-country Thanksgiving flight.
The Tengu Club
Here’s a powerful new film, directed and narrated by fly fishing guide and conservationist Hilary Hutcheson, that tells the story of the Tengu fishing club, formed in Seattle by Japanese Americans in 1937, and the little-told history of Japanese internment camps during World War II. The club was reestablished following the war, under this premise: “Tengu - it’s always been an organization that’s been welcoming… if you can fish, if you’re a good person, you’re welcome.” For more information on the club, read this story from Seattle-based North American Post, the oldest, minority-owned publishing company in the Greater Seattle area, representing the long and storied history of the Japanese American community.
Robert Traver Awards
Near the beginning of every year, the American Fly Fishing Museum and the John D. Voelker Foundation announce the annual Robert Traver Fly-Fishing Writing Award and call for submissions. This year’s winner and honorable mentions were just posted online and I encourage readers and writers to browse the recent essays as well as previous years’. The authors and stories come from across the States and abroad, and you may find some familiar authors within. Robert Traver was the pseudonym of John Voelker, who penned the books Trout Magic, Trout Madness, Anatomy of a Fisherman, and others.
Terror Time
Once a year, just before Halloween, the podcast Dirtbag Diaries releases its “Tales for Terror” episode, featuring stories of paranormal activity in the outdoors. At this point, there are over a dozen of these episodes to enjoy. The stories range from silly to scary to surreal and, over the years, a few have made the hair on my neck stand up. At least one episode is worth a listen, and you may find yourself going through the archives afterward.
On All Night
It has always been a happy thought to me that the creek runs on all night, new every minute, whether I wish it or know it or care, as a closed book on a shelf continues to whisper to itself its own inexhaustible tale.
― From Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
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© Jesse Lance Robbins, 2024
