Hatching into spring
This week's update has us ready for spring with a post-Springsteen glow, featuring a new class offering in Oregon and an epic film of a Brown Drake hatch.
Current Flowers of State:
I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for the first time on Friday night here in Portland, and it was a quasi-religious experience. Culturally, in an ambient way, I've loved their stuff for years. Born in the USA was the first cassette tape I ever owned. But for some reason the shows always felt inaccessible. Not quite for me. Well, I was wrong.
The level of performance, the raw intensity, the band's unity, and the overwhelming feeling that they were giving it their all made it such a moving event. Even after decades of making music, they're still on the stage, exhibiting a level of showmanship I've rarely seen in thousands of concerts. It reminded me of a line from Bob Seger's epic paean to road life, "Turn the Page":
Out there in the spotlight you're a million miles away
Every ounce of energy you try to give away
Only Bruce and the band weren't a million miles away. They were together, with all 17,000 of us packed in the arena, connecting directly—to us, with each other—through their music. Truly inspirational.
I'm all ears. Tell me what you've been enjoying lately by responding to this email.
New class with Landdd
I'm excited to announce I'll teaching a fishing and fly tying workshop through Landdd gallery here in Oregon on Saturday, May, 16. We're going to be doing a waterside fly tying and fishing event at a yet-to-be-disclosed location, making some flies out of whatever funky materials we come up with to see if they'll fish. Sign up if you're interested, it's going to be a lot of fun! (landdd.org)
Fly fishing is good for you
Research proves fly fishing improves your mental and physical health.
Leaders ➰
Ten fishy links to start your week on the fly side of life
Angling &...
Yellow Dog Saltwater Invitational: 11-Weight Tarpon Course (45-min read)
This is an exceptionally long post, but I think worth spending some time with. After doing a 5-weight shootout last year, Yellow Dog now turns its efforts to sending a group of professional anglers out to evaluate the high-, mid-, and low-end 11-weight rods on the market. The performance results might surprise you, and, even more than that, you'll learn a lot about how professional anglers evaluate fly rods. (yellowdogflyfishing.com)
So Near and So Far (1-min read)
He who blogs as crookededdy has been jonesing to get out and fish the Catskills, through a very snowy winter. Nearly there, buddy. Just a little bit longer. (Bright Waters Catskill)
The new license year is here! (3-min read)
Speaking of which, for a lot of states like Washington in the Pacific Northwest it's license renewal time. Wisconsin, Indiana, New Mexico, North Dakota...any others that use April 1 the start date? Odds are the prices went up, but it's worth checking to see if they've added any other little mandatory things that might trip you up. (WDFW.gov)
Fly fishing for Shad (2-min read)
Shad are starting to move on the Eastern Seaboard, and fly fishing for this founding fish is a blast. If you have shad near you, or think you might, it's worth it to get out and try to catch a few. You might even wear your arm out, if you time it right. Hundred-fish days are not uncommon. (shadonthefly.com)
PICK OF THE WEEK
🎥 Brown Drake Hatch | The Best Hatch in Fly Fishing? (5-min watch)
If you're still new enough to fly fishing that you haven't been present for a truly epic hatch yet, tune in to Gilbert Rowley's exceptional videography of a Brown Drake hatch and the subsequent surface trout feeding activity. This is what it's all about, and what more hatches might be like if we were to have healthy insect populations. (Gilbert Rowley on YouTube)
And as a special bonus...
CDC Loop March Brown Wet Fly Tying Tutorial (11-min watch)
Here's a great wet fly to tie on if there are March Browns near you, courtesy Eugene's Caddis Fly Shop. (oregonflyfishingblog.com)
...Aware & Active & Alive to the world
Colorado’s Tolland Ranch and Georgia’s Okefenokee Land Deal Expand Fly Fishing Access in 2026 (4-min read)
Two big land protection acquisitions in public-private partnership in Colorado and Georgia are worth celebrating as the sorts of concrete gains organized conservationists are fighting for, amidst bureaucratic posturing and broad federal ineptitude. (midcurrent.com)
Gray whale that swam 20 miles up Willapa River shocking residents, has died (5-min read)
Sadly the young gray whale that swam its way 20 miles up the Willapa river in SW Washington this week and captivated local observers has died. (oregonlive.com)
Country diary: Taking the plunge – and marrying a river (2-min read)
Activists in England dressed up in creature outfits such that one could marry the River Tone, a devotional ceremony meant to draw attention to our role in protecting rivers. Reminds me of the old Pee-wee catchphrase "If you love it so much, why don't you marry it?" (theguardian.com)
We cheer and whoop as Eileen, our salmon, takes to the water paddling downstream on her hands and knees. She commits to “love and honour” the Tone and protect it “in sickness and in health”. Something stirs inside our animal hearts. Just maybe, the tide is turning.
100 Dams Down: 2025 A Big Year for Reconnecting Rivers in the U.S. (5-min read)
Jessie Thomas-Blate at American Rivers details the progress made to remove derelict dams and restore free-flowing river habitat in the last year, with 4,893 miles of river reconnected, the most in a single year. Here's one way to get some skin in the game: Find your nearest dam that's up for re-licensing, that's falling apart, that's leading to mediocre habitat conditions and track down the team or teams that are helping to make sure it's dismantled. (americanrivers.org)
Hollow Body: On attention to craft in defiance of AI.(22-min read)
One final note on fly fishing and mental health, this one from an adjacent field. English professor Peter Wayne Moe, depressed about how students' AI usage is decimating their traditional way of learning, turns to the classical guitar. A not-dissimilar instrument to the trusty fly rod (longreads.com)
A therapist once told me that one way to manage the hollow of depression is to find an activity that creates pleasure but also demands mastery—something like baking, or the arts, or sports. Such pursuits engage both mind and body, reorienting your focus away from the myopic self-obsession of depression and toward, instead, something beyond the self, some palpable problem that can be worked through and, with enough time, eventually solved. There is peace in that, my therapist said; satisfaction too. And, he added, these activities tend to be much better for you than the many vices people often turn toward to fill that emptiness when stressed, anxious, and depressed.
Join us in Maupin this May!
Register for the Maupin Meetup!
The salmonfly hatch and all the beauty of late spring in the high desert will be upon us soon. Join CFS May 28-31 in Maupin, Oregon, for some classic big bug fishing and the DRA's TroutFest celebration.
Events 📆
Got an event you want the community to know about? Send it over, and I'll include it here. You can see all of our upcoming CFS events on Luma.
NEW April 23, Ashland, OR
Screening of The River Remembers and First Descent: Kayaking the Klamath (Ashland Independent Film Festival)
April 24-25, Gresham, OR
Sandy River Spey Clave (Sandy River Spey Clave)
April 25, Vida, OR
The Wooden Boat Show on the McKenzie River (The Redsides)
April 30, "Running Wild" Tour, Seattle
(Wild Salmon Center)
May
NEW CFS: May 16, Fly Fishing and Fly Tying, OR
I'm excited to be teaching a workshop with Landdd gallery here in Oregon. we're going to be doing a waterside fly tying and fishing event at a yet-to-be-disclosed location. Sign up if you're interested! (landdd.org)
May 20, Portland, OR
"Running Wild" showing (Wild Salmon Center)
CFS: May 28-31, Maupin, OR
It's our annual Maupin Meetup! Registered now, before it fills up. (CFS Events)
June
June 23, "Running Wild" Tour, San Francisco
(Wild Salmon Center)
June 26-28, La Pine, OR
Tenkara Oregon's Tenkara Bugout (Tenkara Oregon)
That's it that's all! Current Flow State is a weekly newsletter from me, Nick Parish.
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We'd go down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh, down to the river we'd ride
-Bruce Springsteen, "The River"
