December 4, 2011 It’s hard to beat waking up in a camp on the banks of the Amazon. Some of the coolest birds make their morning calls. Dolphin chase bait in front of your cabin. And the camp staff has delicious coffee made by 5:30. Life really doesn’t get any better. I got up around … Read more
December 3, 2011 Last night Becky and I rolled into the Tropical Hotel in Manaus, Brazil at about 11:30 PM absolutely exhausted from the long two days of travel from the States. Our overnight at this hotel was the last leg of the journey before heading to the Amazon today. Most of my seven guests … Read more
December 2, 2011 My sister Becky and I survived the overnight flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil with flying colors and find ourselves in a 9 hour layover waiting to fly to Manaus, Brazil tonight. We’re doing our best to kill off the time. I sorted flies, walked every square inch of the airport and now … Read more
The long journey has begun. I’m presently at the San Francisco airport en route to the Amazon. It was a snowy windy night in Victor, Idaho. My flight left Idaho Falls at 6 AM. Needless to say I couldn’t sleep to well worrying about the morning road conditions and the fact that I had to … Read more
It’s a special time of year. I’m not quite tired of the snow. I’m not yet sick of the sun not rising until 8 AM. So far I can even handle darkness at 5 PM. Temps aren’t too cold and because it’s mid November, and I enjoy the fact that trout have normally crowded rivers … Read more
Last week my friend Doug McKnight of Livingston, Montana called to invite me to streamer fish the Yellowstone River with him. Dougy promised me that this is the time when you have a chance at some really big brown trout. He wasn’t kidding! Unfortunately I opted out on Dougy’s offer. I’m more focused on my … Read more
I don’t know what I’ve been thinking lately. It’s November 16th and I haven’t chucked a streamer on the South Fork this month. Sure I got a heck of a lot of required work and projects done, but at the expense of some of my favorite trout fishing of the year. Not smart. As I … Read more
An entire week has passed and I did not go fishing! I’m feeling it. But it has been catch up week. I’ve been working on several paintings that customers have been patiently waiting on, wrote and article for an English Fly Fishing Magazine, organized some issues on my Brazil trips and I even winterized the … Read more
When you can hardly handle the cold in your own house, that’s usually a good indication it’s too damn chilly to go fishing. You should just quit being cheap, put the heat on and stay home. But my friends Rob Parkins, Weldon Jones and Neil Chamberlin and I are idiots. We went anyhow. Why? Why … Read more
November 3, 2011 Yellowstone National Park officially closes its gates the first Sunday in November. Some years the first snow causes this closure to occur earlier but this year we’ve been lucky. Today Weldon Jones (my Bass on the Fly partner) and I headed up to Lewis Lake to say goodbye to another great year … Read more