I wouldn’t say that I woke up hungover, but that last beer wasn’t sitting right with me. Full disclosure, it was only a two beer night. My tolerance just ain’t what it used to be. Hard truths you discover in your late twenties. The culprit was a Glacier IPA by Matanuska Brewing Co. It was… Continue reading My Alaskan Window
Conventional fishing wisdom says to rise early, beat the crowds, and maximize your time on the water. That advice holds true for streams and lakes, racing both the sun and fellow anglers to mornings of solitude and shadowless casts. Tidal influenced fisheries turn this age old maxim on its head; here the tide is king.… Continue reading The Luck of the Chum Fry
Editor's Note: I'm dusting this one off from the vault. The vault is my collection of drafts that have yet to see the light of day for one reason or another. I started writing this one shortly after taking this trip, but life got busy from moving west and there it sat. With the Wisconsin… Continue reading Camping The Opener
Rain. A word with the power to stop plans dead in their tracks. On any given Friday from November through May I’ll hear it interspersed throughout the conversations in the office. “Well we were going to do this hike this weekend but we can’t because it’s going to rain.” If one were to live by… Continue reading Just Go
About three weeks ago I got bit by the trout bug. Don't get me wrong, the thought of trout or trout adjacent things will cross my mind daily, without fail. But I mean I really started thinking about trout. As in every hour or so I would catch myself drifting into a dreamlike state where… Continue reading Springtime’s A-Coming Up On the Divide
The October days that herald in the end of the trout season are upon us once again. I recently headed back to the Midwest for one last wedding of the year. My job was generous with allowing me to work remotely the week following the wedding, extending my time spent with family and friends. Unfortunately,… Continue reading Closing Time
There’s a stream in the central Cascade mountain range, not too far from the bustling metropolis of Seattle, that has occupied many of my daydreams over the past year. Somewhere buried in an old scientific report was a single stream name, noting a genetically pure population (no prior hybridization with rainbow trout) of westslope cutthroat… Continue reading Taking The Overgrown Path
One of the requisite characteristics of having adventurous family members is that they reside in places where adventures can be readily found. This couldn’t be more true in the case of my cousin Spencer, who made the move from the Midwest to Colorado many years ago to pursue his passion for rock climbing and the… Continue reading Mountain Casual: Cutthroat Trout in the San Juans
I found myself back in the Midwest this past week for the first time in 2022. There was an office furniture trade show that I attended in Chicago and I was fortunate enough to extend my trip to include spending the rest of the week at my parent's river home in central Wisconsin. It was… Continue reading Giving Up on Goodbyes
Editor's Note: Guest author and itinerant trout bum Dean Kuettel is back with another trouty tale from the Keystone state. As you'll soon learn, much has changed since his first post back in 2020. Dean and I have shared many great days on trout streams in the Midwest and I'm stoked that in a few… Continue reading The Bookend: The Last Trip in the East
