Writers on the Fly Wrap-Up

PART I: Getting There

We just wrapped up the 2024 Writers on the Fly West Coast Tour and my head is spinning in both fatigue and excitement. Six days on the road and four shows later, my cup is overflowing with inspiration, ideas, inside jokes, and ink yet to hit the page. Six days with five other incredible writers and humans and I will never forget our time together. Four nights with patient, enthusiastic, compassionate, and excited audience members who graciously gave their time, minds, and money to listen to our fishin’ tales. I’m forever grateful to all of these people and, while it’s still fresh on my mind and on the tip of my tongue, I want to get some thoughts down on the tour and Writers on the Fly in general.

The shared experience must be pinnacle of the human experience; when the sum is greater than the parts and a half-dozen people find and/or create an energy that reverberates within them and others for days after the adventure or event itself. Such was the case with WOTF.

The Tour unofficially began on Sunday, April 21st when Jason Rolfe, founder of WOTF and Editor at The Flyfish Journal, Alex Blouin, Marketing Manager at Sage Fly Fishing, Anne Landfield, writer, poet, and guide, and I met in Springfield. Putting aside the massive, two-car packing job that loomed, instead we went fishing and dropped the boat in for a short afternoon float on the McKenzie. The countless laughs had that afternoon immediately set the tone for the rest of our trip south. A few fish in the net certainly didn’t hurt, either.

The next morning we hit the road early… or, we would’ve, had I done any lick of packing beforehand. Instead, I ran around, up, and down the house for several hours while Jason, Alex, and Anne patiently waited. In the end, we filled my Tacoma and Jason’s Outback nearly to the brims with our clothes, fishing gear, waders and boots, tents, sleeping bags, cots, camping cooking equipment, and a giant cooler, not to mention all the items we needed for the actual tour events - recording equipment, tables, merchandise, etc. Considering that we would be picking up two more folks when we got to San Francisco, it was looking tight. Nevertheless, we started rolling south by mid-morning.

We’d make it all the way past the mouth of the Klamath River in California, pitstopping along the way for food, groceries, gas, to fish, to mushroom hunt, to rest, to oblige road construction, to take in the views, and, finally, to check in to our campsite. It was a long day but the journey had begun and we were buzzing from it.

The following day was spent entirely on Highways 101 and 1 in California, winding through Redwoods, along the coast, and up and down the coastal mountains. It was an even longer day, but a great one, with more stops to fish and sight-see. After a failed attempt to drive through the Chandelier Redwood, we careened up and over to the sea, finally landing near Mendocino for the night in a state campground. Around the campfire that evening, we discussed the following day’s logistics as we still had to get to SF, pickup our comrades, get to and set up the venue, put on our first event, and then eventually make our way to Oakland to our lodging for the night. Considering all that, we went to bed earlier than the night before.

Coming into San Francisco in early-afternoon the following day, we went straight to the Presidio and Golden Gate Beach to catch our breath for a moment, enjoy the sun, and take in the bridge view. There, we rendezvous’d with our remaining two tour members, the incomparable Steve Duda of Patagonia Fly Fishing and full-time troubadour and writer Riverhorse Nakadate.

From then, it was on.

PART II: The Tour

We’d planned four shows in four nights, starting in San Francisco on Wednesday and ending in Eugene on Saturday; over 500 miles to cover in between our events. I suppose I’ve never been ‘on tour’ before, save for a couple very brief tag-alongs between Seattle and Portland with Bronze Radio Return, but after just a week, I was exhausted.

Because we were six people in two vehicles and were carrying not only everyone’s clothes luggage and a backpack but a plethora of fishing gear, camping gear, and all the show equipment, each day had us going through a Tetris-like packing and unpacking job multiple times. The general daily schedule looked something like this: awake, caffeinate, carefully pack the vehicles, hit the road, pitstop for some quick angling and/or lunch, arrive at the evening’s venue, unpack the vehicles, setup for the show, do a brief sound check, open the doors for the show, have the show, breakdown the show, repack the vehicles, drive to our evening’s accommodations possibly stopping for dinner along the way, unpack the vehicles, have a nightcap or two, then retire for the evening. I can’t imagine how I’d feel were I a touring musician with an entire trailer of instruments, lights, and A/V equipment to unpack and pack, plus a months-long tour across an entire region or country.

Our first show took place in the Financial District of San Francisco and we leaned on our partner George Revel, owner of Lost Coast Outfitters, for help with venue and event logistics. The show was at a venue called Lyon & Swan, which happens to be the current name of a former nightclub and comedy venue The Purple Onion. This venue holds a ton of history, including performances by Robin Williams, Phyllis Diller, and plenty of others. We couldn’t have asked for a better start to the tour: the lights were low but the energy was high and the crowd - even though a mix of fly anglers, non-anglers, and folks new to literary readings - was supportive and stoked. We were on our way.

The following night found us inside Sacramento’s Fly Fishing Specialties with co-host Rick Anderson. Rick’s shop is an exquisitely-organized and merchandised fly shop with an astounding fly tying materials selection. We set up our readings around his magnificent live edge wooden table and settled in for an intimate evening. While the crowd was smaller than that in SF, everyone was engaged and most remarked to us after the show how much they enjoyed their time.

Joining us at both the California shows was artist Sarah Landström, who had just driven to town from Michigan. Sarah is an artist and angler who previously worked with George at Lost Coast Outfitters. She has had shows, galleries, and collections across the country and has been featured in most of the industry’s magazines and media outlets. Sarah’s colorful work undoubtedly livened-up our readings and help set the stage for our evenings of creativity.

Our events in California also raised money for California Trout whose goal is to “restore vibrance and abundance to California's freshwater ecosystems, and to keep them that way for years to come.” Several of their staff of 60-plus joined us in SF and Sac to talk about their work and share updates on recent projects, including the listing of Southern Steelhead and the Klamath River dam removals.

The following day, we hit the road early for a five-hour drive to southern Oregon. There, our largest and most energetic crowd would assemble at the magnificent Cedarwood Barn in Talent. It was a coming home event for me, having lived in Ashland for a couple years and having so many great friends there. We were all blown away by the turnout - around 75 people in total joined us for the show and socializing afterwards. Thanks to some last-minute schedule rearrangement, I was given the final reading slot and was able to close out the show with a story about Atlantic salmon fishing that involved some of the good folks in the crowd. It was a very special evening, one that I will never forget. Alex and I ended up sticking around all night actually, enjoying the company and camping near the barn.

Accompanying us in Talent (and the following night in Eugene) was painter and guide James Sampsel of Humble Heron Fly Fishing. I’ve known of James’ artwork and seen it in print for a while, but never in person. As Steve put it, every brush stroke sings. James painted while we read, creating masterpieces that he told me later were influenced and energized by the words floating around the room. That really blew my mind, thinking of the melding of two art forms. I’m so glad and grateful that he shared his time with us on this tour.

Also reading in the two Oregon shows was Oregon-based writer Brett Tallman. Brett is a longtime freelance writer and he shared his essay “Searching for Sheridan” about the Curtis Creek Manifesto author Sheridan Anderson. The Manifesto is a book that I have read, loved, shared, quoted, and referenced many times over the years so it was great to hear some more about Anderson and his life.

Our raffle in Talent raised funds for The Steamboaters who work to preserve, promote, and restore wild fish populations - especially steelhead - in the North Umpqua River. Dear friend Jake Crawford spoke on their behalf at the show and I saw plenty of Steamboaters hats being worn on the audience.

Our final show was in Eugene at Caddis Fly Shop, which is owned by friend Chris Daughters. We had another solid turnout in Eugene, including several staffers from McKenzie River Trust, who displayed and talked about their local efforts. I was working the door for the event and immediately recognized MRT’s Executive Director, Joe Moll, when he walked in. I saw Joe the previous week at MRT’s own literary reading event, which featured David James Duncan. Joe and I spoke briefly about his event, I explained how much I enjoyed it and, judging from his reactions to the Writers on the Fly readers, it’s safe to say that Joe enjoyed ours.

A final reader joined us in Eugene - Jessica Maxwell, author of I Don’t Know Why I Swallowed the Fly, which was published in 1998. Our connection to Jessica is a fun one. A year ago, when Stacey and I were on vacation in Hawaii, I found Jessica’s book in the library of an AirBnB. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was about fly fishing, in Oregon - much of it on the McKenzie River, no less - and that Jessica lived near where we live. I was more surprised to see that Jessica had been tutored by Guido Gahr, who’s the Executive Director at the organization where Stacey works. Returning home from the trip, I had a vision of seeing the book before, so I asked my father if he had the book in his library. Indeed he did, and on the inside of it was my own handwriting, dedicating the book to him for Christmas in 1998. If that’s not time travel, I don’t know what is! Jason and I were able to track Jessica down and she enthusiastically joined us for our final event. It was a great way to end our tour, with a long-time, local reader. From Jessica: “Last night was a healing. Truly, it was a gathering of grace. And true purpose. And depth. And heart. And spirit supreme.”

Later that night, after we’d broken down our equipment and returned back to the house, Jason, Riverhorse, Steve, Anne, Alex, Stacey and I shared reflections of the week and our gratitude for the opportunity. It was a very special moment for me, and everyone. We each pulled two Spirit Animal Tarot cards and remarked at how they fit our personalities and our week’s journey. My two: Mouse and Tiger.

PART III: The Players

Writers on the Fly would not be what it is without the people involved. The audience members that made up our four-stop tour - all 150+ of you - deserve a giant THANK YOU. Your support, encouragement, applause, and camaraderie makes these events so special to us, as readers and hosts. Thank you.

As to the readers, I hope everyone reading this will take a minute to look into each one, follow them on social media, buy their books, read their work, and introduce yourself. I know they’d appreciate it. Here’s a bit more about each of the players on this tour.

Steve Duda is a long-time writer, journalist, musician, and angler living in the Seattle area. Previously a music journalist, he later served as Editor at The Flyfish Journal, before eventually starting his current role as Head of Fish Tales for Patagonia Fly Fishing. Steve has book coming out this summer called River Songs and I can assuredly say that it’ll be worth the read. Sharing hours on the road with Steve was invaluable to me as an aspiring writer and I’m thankful for his patience with my questions and his willingness to entertain my story ideas. To read some of Steve’s work, poke around on the Patagonia Fly Fishing Stories page and in the Flyfish Journal archives.

Riverhorse Nakadate is a full-time adventurer, film-maker, writer, musician, conservationist, and the most charismatic person I’ve crossed paths with for a long while. While his films (like Love & Water and A Northern Light) are serious in tone, Riverhorse is NOT. As one example of many that I could give, he snuck a remote control fart-noise machine onto the stage in Talent and started setting it off while Jason introduced the second half of our show. Riverhorse also has a book coming out in the next couple of years and, again, I know it’ll be worthy of our libraries. Thanks to Riverhorse for his calm, wisdom, jokes, and the Dairy Queen stop.

Anne Landfield is a writer, poet, and fly fishing guide for Emerald Water Anglers in West Seattle. Admittedly, I was less familiar with her work than Steve or Riverhorse’s, but after hearing her read four times, I really came to know her voice, appreciate her perspective, and admire her courage. Also, the without-warning F-bombs made me smile every time. I regret not getting some windshield time with Anne but am confident that she and I will cross paths again on the water somewhere. I really appreciate Anne’s flexibility and patience on the road with three, immature young men.

George Revel of Lost Coast Outfitters read in SF, sharing his story about his dog Diesel, which the hound himself relaxed in the back of the venue. George was absolutely invaluable in helping us organize the SF show, going to so far as to secure not one, but two venues for us. He then took us out to dinner after the show! Thanks, George. I hope to repay the favor some day. To read more about George and his incomparable and ongoing run in the fly fishing world, read his bio at the bottom of this page.

Brett Tallman is a new friend to me, but I am thoroughly impressed with the research and depth he put into his piece “Searching for Sheridan”. We’re making plans to get on the river together (as we do!) and I’m looking forward to it, as I know Brett’s thoughtful words will fodder great conversation between us. Brett also writes a lot for Native Fish Society, so keep an eye on their communications.

I spoke about my connection to Jessica Maxwell above, but I encourage readers here to get a copy of her book I Don’t Know Why I Swallowed the Fly. There is incredibly beautiful imagery and language in the book and for those who have spent time on the Deschutes and McKenzie Rivers, you will see what you’ve seen in new lights. To think that this book came out over a quarter-century ago and that it’s still as inspiring today as it was then, really makes me love - even more - the power of creative writing and storytelling.

My dear friend and fellow New Englander Alex Blouin of Sage held shotgun seat in my truck for the entirety of the journey and I am so glad that he was there. I couldn’t begin to count the laughs we shared. His photography skills will soon be on display as we share more images from the trip. Thanks, Alex for your constant positivity and also your ability to track down incredible pieces of water that none of us had ever been to.

Finally, I owe a tremendous amount of thanks for Writers on the Fly founder Jason Lee Rolfe. Jason and I became friends years ago while collaborating some some pieces for The Flyfish Journal and, at some point, he asked me to read at a WOTF. The event immediately struck me as something that I wanted to - needed to - be a part of. Eventually I asked Jason if he needed or wanted some help in planning more WOTF shows and tours, and he graciously agreed. The fact that he agreed to this isn’t lost on me because WOTF is his baby; he created it, he fostered it, and it has grown because of him. I can only guess the difficulties in letting go of some of it, but I hope that, between the two of us, we accomplished something greater than what only one of us could’ve. Thanks, Jason, for the opportunity to be a part of Writers on the Fly. I hope you know how special it is to everyone involved.

PART IV: The Future

What’s next for Writers on the Fly? For now, we’re all still coming down from the tour and catching up on sleep and work. We’re compiling notes, asking what worked and what didn’t, and starting to start thinking about (that wasn’t a typo) the next tour. A lot of questions remain for the next go-around, so I’ll leave with the cliche Stay Tuned.

Until then, please reach out with any reactions, questions, comments or photos from the tour and keep your eye on the Instagram.

And, again, from deep in our hearts - THANK YOU!