Category Archives: Stories

We had been hydrating with Coors Light all morning. To save money on boats, we had crammed four of us into a three-man drift boat coordinating back casts to avoid getting tangled. It mostly worked but we were cramped. The sun was out over Montana’s famed Bighorn River and we were rowing our Cottonwood CampContinueContinue reading “A-Hole on the River”

The alarm at 4:40 a.m. was not warranted. I was already awake, and had been for an hour so I turned it off before it could wake sleeping beauty. For some reason sleep is hard to come by the night before a fishing excursion and I knew I’d pay for it that afternoon. But thereContinueContinue reading “The Arsenal”

“We, all of us, are what happens when a primordial mixture of hydrogen and helium evolves for so long that it begins to ask where it came from.” Dr. Jill Tarter quoted this pearl of intergalactic wisdom and it is something that pops into my head every time I read the news or get lostContinueContinue reading “Living Simply, Simply Living”

Escaping boredom in a tiny town, population 26, was a battle fought every day as a youngster.  When the wind blew relentlessly across the open plains, shooting hoops in the driveway felt like the equivalent of casting a size 26 Adams behind a jet engine during takeoff.  I remember yelling at the wind as ifContinueContinue reading “Hip Shots”

Two tents, a tepee, three dudes, and a dispersed campsite positioned about ten rugged miles up into a mountain range outside of Kremmling, Colorado might have made this three-amigo maiden fly fishing trip a success. Or we’d die trying. Davis Ellis Tepee overlooking the Colorado River valley. The fact that Brandon snores and Cory hadContinueContinue reading “The Confluence of Mistakes”

From time to time my actions (and especially my thoughts) have walked a crooked line between right and wrong.  I don’t remember who taught me when it was acceptable to bend the rules, but I admit it has happened once or twice.  My parents were not saints and there were times growing up when IContinueContinue reading “Buck Fever”

A remote-controlled fireplace.  I ponder, what level of human laziness guides intuition or initiative to achieve such an invention? Did I contribute to this weakened evolution of man, or mankind, if you will? Or, did I miss an inventive opportunity?… Deep thoughts of a father of three young girls and husband to an always-just spouseContinueContinue reading “Dove and Buffalo”

Last night the clock rolled back an hour. I was in a restless dream trying and failing to speak Spanish to a confused crowd in Mexico about coffee. It was as frustrating as the time I tried to tie on a tiny black midge in the dark and kept cutting the tippet instead of theContinueContinue reading “4-Low”

If I would have been pulled over, the cop would have yanked me out of Ethyl’s window and put my cheek firmly on the asphalt with a knee in my back.  What the previous night’s occasion was I can’t quite recall, but the booze was seeping out of my pores that morning.  As I navigatedContinueContinue reading “The Rapist Pond”

I love fly fishing, and camping, my family, and really good Texas barbecue. With that in mind, this little blog will give insight on fly fishing, camping, gear, and I’ve even sprinkled in some true stories that are hopefully interesting to a few people. I started the blog one morning in a Colorado Free UniversityContinueContinue reading “Confluences and Influences”