It's been an interesting year in every sense of the word, and it's difficult to believe that we're already living in July--well into the smallmouth season, and it seems like we've really just been getting started. Since June 10, we've been fully back in the saddle with...
We've fallen out of the habit of publishing regular fishing reports because our guiding operations were halted for a spell during the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak, but we're hopping back on the train, right now. As you know if you subscribe to this website, we have sl...
The story I’d like to try to tell begins in the late 80s, though it doesn’t really. It really starts before that, with a wild boy in Clifton Forge, the major settings being the Jackson and Cowpasture Rivers. Or, maybe it should start even earlier, on a mid-spring day i...
The Blue Ridge Discovery Center (BRDC), a non-profit based in Konnarock, Virginia at the foot of Mount Rogers, has a vital, driving mission—to foster ecological awareness and promote experiential, outdoor learning that encourages healthy outdoor activity and the growth...
Musky are curious critters. If you follow this column, you know that I spend what probably amounts to an unhealthy amount of time considering what makes them tick. They’re a mysterious fish with a swagger that doesn’t always match their predatory physiology. They’ll br...
Fish enough, and keep track of the weather and conditions, and certain patterns begin to emerge. Like, for example, when it’s worth going fishing, and when it’s not.
When the South Fork gets a bit of rain in the winter and the clouds hang on for a few days after, and wh...
For the better part of February, we've been battling high water in southwest Virginia, keeping us off the big river and prepping for spring and the great smallmouth and wild trout fishing that comes with it. Despite snow and frigid temps coming this weekend, in just th...
As of this writing, we are on the back end of some very wet and very cold weather. January fishing has been good, but not without its challenges--high and dirty water, frigid water temperatures, and successive cold fronts. However, the best fishing of the winter will s...
I can’t remember my first hunt. The first time my dad took me, gun-toting, afield in the pursuit of real game. But I know that it was a heavy experience—one that I had looked forward to, and that fueled my love for the outdoors, and, likely, one that he had to sacrific...
The older I grow, the less I care about material things. Sure, as an angler, material things—such as boats, gear, etc.—can facilitate experiences, but it is the memories that are treasured. They are all gifts. Time is a gift, and so it is during the pause taken at Chri...
