Sidechannels

Over the course of their nearly 40-year friendship, Yvon Chouinard and Craig Mathews have had a significant influence on both the culture and activity of flyfishing. Their most recent collaboration is Pheasant Tail Simplicity , a new book coauthored with their friend Mauro Mazzo. The book is part technical treatise, part fly tying manual and part philosophy. Either way, it's well worth a read for...

Chase and Aimee Bartee began making films together when they lived in New England, publishing them under the moniker Tight Loops Fly (or simply Tight Loops, depending on where you're looking). Their full length film Big Land won best adventure at the fly fishing film awards in 2019, and for the past several years they've been working on a series called For Wild's Sake , which offers in-depth looks...

Will Rice is a freelance writer and podcaster who began his career with the Denver Post in 2003, under the mentorship of acclaimed hook-and-bullet writer Charlie Meyers. His early, travel-focused writing brought him face-to-face with what would become a long-term project: the disappearance of Bahamian flyfishing guide Stanley Bain. In 2018, Rice began hosting Down the Path, a podcast that investig...

This is Part Two of our conversation with filmmaker , Navy veteran, youth advocate and conservationist Chad Brown. As  the founder of a couple of non-profits— Soul River Inc. and Love is King—Brown has helped provide a pathway for youth, veterans and others to build a connection to what, in some ways, is one of the last frontiers in North America, the Arctic and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge...

Chad Brown is a filmmaker , a veteran, and an advocate for youth and for wild spaces; he's also the founder of a couple of non-profits— Soul River Inc. and Love is King—which have provided a pathway for youth, veterans and others to build a connection to what, in some ways, is   one of the last frontiers in North America, the Arctic and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. His work over the past c...

A few years back, Kristen Bufe realized that there might be a better way to teach people how to cast a fly rod. As the instructor tossed around odd metaphors ("Imagine throwing a dart." "Imagine flicking paint off a brush.") Bufe could see the disconnect on students' faces. So she decided to do something about it. Fast forward a few years, and you can find her dispensing casting and fishing wisdom...

When author Peter Heller was a kid , playgrounds weren't really his thing. Instead, it was the bushes and trees around the playground that he found himself drawn to time and again. For anyone who has read his books, this tracks. In Heller's writing, the natural world looms just as large as any of his carefully wrought characters—whether that's Hig in The Dog Stars , or Jess in his most recent nove...

When author Peter Heller was a kid , playgrounds weren't really his thing. Instead, it was the bushes and trees around the playground that he found himself drawn to time and again. For anyone who has read his books, this tracks. In Heller's writing, the natural world looms just as large as any of his carefully wrought characters—whether that's Hig in The Dog Stars , or Jess in his most recent nove...

Travis Rummel started Felt Soul Media in 2005 with Ben Knight, a decision they described as a "pretty scary plunge into self-employment," but one which they never questioned. Their first film, "The Hatch," established them as a ground-breaking voice in outdoor media and, in some ways, marked the beginning of a new genre of flyfishing film. More films—and plenty of accolades—followed. Rummel's part...

Dave Gravette knows a thing or two about injuries. As a professional skateboarder for the past 20 years, he's had his fair share. In fact, it was during a recovery from shoulder surgery several years ago that he took up flyfishing as a way to pass the time off his board. Since then, Gravette has been hooked, seeking out any and every opportunity he can to chase fish, from steelhead to carp to blue...

David James Duncan is one of those people who need no introduction, but we've got one anyway. Duncan's first novel, The River Why , was published by the Sierra Club in 1983, becoming a cult classic within the flyfishing world and beyond. Nearly 10 years would pass before the publication of his second novel, The Brothers K , and more than 30 would elapse until the publication of his third and most...

Kyle Schaefer is a guide, fishing lodge owner and saltwater fisheries advocate based out of York, ME. After cutting his teeth as a guide on the trout streams of the West, Schaefer made his way back east and ventured onto the striper flats of southern Maine, where a good portion of his guiding energy during the season is spent poling clients and sight-casting to striped bass from a flats skiff.  To...

Dylan Tomine is an author, filmmaker, Patagonia Ambassador and diehard conservationist. His first book, Closer to the Ground   (Patagonia Books, 2012), is an exploration of "an outdoor family's year on the water, in the woods and at the table." In 2022, Tomine published  Headwaters: The Adventures, Obsession, and Evolution of a Fly Fisherman ,  a collection of previously-published and new work, al...

Hilary Hutcheson is a guide, outfitter, writer, filmmaker, conservationist and whitewater rafting fiend who also happens to own a fly shop— Lary's Fly and Supply —in Columbia Falls, MT.  As a guide and outfitter, Hilary introduces anglers and adventurers to her beautiful corner of northwest Montana just outside Glacier National Park. As a conservationist and board member with Backcountry Hunters &...

Shane Anderson is a former professional skier turned filmmaker whose documentaries—including "Wild Reverence," "Guardians of the River" and " A River's Last Chance" —have received numerous awards. Anderson won a Northwest Emmy for "The Lost Salmon" in 2023. For the past few years, Anderson and the crew at Swiftwater Films have been documenting the largest river restoration in US history--the remov...

Brita Fordice cut her flyfishing teeth on the rivers, lakes and shorelines of the Puget Sound region of Washington state. As a product developer, she plays a big part in the development, design and testing of RIO's wide selection of flies—including her personal favorites, squid and shrimp patterns.  In the episode, we chat about her days chasing carp (without fly rods) for bounties in eastern Wash...

In the introduction to  The Flyfish Journal's gallery of Jeremy Koreski's photography in issue 6.1 , Colin Wiseman wrote: "Jeremy Koreski is a son of the ocean." It sounds hyperbolic, until you start flipping through the images, or scrolling through the work available on Jeremy's website , or—ideally—viewing his work at his one of his galleries in Tofino or Vancouver, British Columbia. Water is a...

When Kate and Justin Crump started Frigate Travel together, they had a couple simple goals: Provide a top-notch fishing experience for their clients, and free up some time for their own adventures during the off-seasons. With more than a decade as two of the most sought after steelhead guides on the Oregon coast, and with an ever-deepening connection to Bristol Bay, AK, they've had no problem stic...

Since 2009 The Flyfish Journal has been flyfishing's independent voice for culture, people, art and adventure—owned by flyfishers and produced near the water. Featuring 116 pages of global photography,  profiles of individuals who define the culture, national and international travel and adventure, and iconic voices, the Journal is published four times each year on archival paper in a format that...