The beach was disappearing. Not literally, of course;  it was only the incoming tide that rose and covered much of what had been a wide open beach a few hours earlier. I had come down to the beach for a partial morning of fly fishing. Few people were at Narrows…

With so much going on around us,  I decided to use a single post to gather my thoughts. First, the elephant in the room is the collapse of the American empire in Afghanistan. This was always going to happen, as any reading of history would have shown. Losing a war…

August is not always the best month for beach fishing on Puget Sound. The kelp and seaweed in the waters along the beach and near the shore cling to fly lines and flies, meaning many casts fling green stuff into the air on either the back or forward casts. And…

The planet is burning, and the arsonists are in charge – so says an environmental writer. Difficult to disagree with that assessment. Another reality is the rivers of the West are dying and the same class of people – the very rich – are responsible. Huffpost has a recent article…

The rest of the country, at least out West, is broiling with drought and wildfires – so why was I cold this morning? After dropping off our dog Henry for one of his twice-weekly play dates at Furry Farms doggie daycare, I went down to Tacoma Narrows park to chase…

Increasing summer stream temperatures reflect the impacts of climate change.  While we may choose to fish or not fish during the warm summer months, including being regulated by “hoot owl” restrictions imposed by fisheries managers, the fish have no choice but to swim in those warm streams. We should all…

Everyone learns a number of fundamental sills at the very start of his or her journey in fly fishing. These are things like how to assemble the fly rod (most are in four sections); string the fly line through the guides after rod assembly; tying on a fly, basic knots,…

What journey does a drop of water take from the mountains of western Montana to the Pacific Ocean? Hilary Hutcheson is a fly shop owner, fly fishing guide, and Patagonia ambassador from Columbia City, Montana, and took that journey to find out; along the way she produced a video to…

I first visited Yellowstone National Park (YNP) in early October 1975, when I was training at the Naval Nuclear Prototype facility that was  50 miles west of Idaho Falls. I qualified there to operate nuclear power plants on submarines. That first visit was memorable. Almost nothing was open and traffic…

As much as anyone else, I am enthusiastic about the vision of our car-driving country moving to fleets of electric vehicles. It’s part of a future based on renewables and non-polluting energy; a future where use of fuels like oil, natural gas, and coal will vanish. And the move to…