Have yourself a fishy fall
There's an awful lot of fishing out there as summer rolls away: dig in for a bonanza of events and inspiration.
Current Flowers of State:
It's September! The most glorious month for fishing, in my opinion. Days are shorter and temperatures are down. The weekends are less crowded (especially when football starts). And the air gets that autumn crispness that reminds you we're headed toward dormancy, and here in the Pacific Northwest, life-giving rains.
We're almost turning the corner from a bevy of summer travel, with a pile of stinky camping gear in the garage that needs to be attended to, but have one more coast trip upcoming.
What about you? How was your summer, on a scale of one to ten hot dogs, ten hot dogs being most jam-packed with fun, casings utterly stretched? What are you looking forward to about fall?
(Other than our PDX urban fly fishing outing with Marc Fryt, of course, which has just a few spaces left?)
Something to watch 🎥
We've lauded this series before, but it keeps getting better. Here's the July edition of one of our favorite fly shops, Schultz Outfitters, "A Stroll with Sled" series, in which our hero Sled, just past the apex of summer in Southeastern Lower Michigan, encounters a blizzard of hexegenia mayflies, voracious smallmouth bass, and a surprise guest.
There's a lot to love here: a crew coming to fish a place for over a decade, waiting, watching, talking with friends until the hatch begins, cheap cigars, arguing over who gets to cast first. Where even the head guide can get tangled up and laugh it off, and pals can celebrate great eats and fun fights while getting pelted by bugs.
It just doesn't get much better than the vibes here.
Something to listen to 👂
Podcast host (and fellow angler!) Jeff Ikler had a look at what we're up to around here and invited me on his Getting Unstuck – Cultivating Curiosity show.
Jeff had a fun angle, too: he realized we both love John Gierach and proposed we chat about our favorite Gierach quotes.
Tune in as Jeff and I talk about a few of our favorites, what we love about Gierach as an author and angler, and how Gierach's work helped form our approaches to fishing.
CFS out in the world
Folks are noticing this project, which feels really fun, and I've been talking about it out in the world a little more—not just on podcasts.
First, with pals Patrick Boehler and Madison Karas, who run a little organization called The Service Desk, which helps journalists use the principles of service design to make more meaningful things.
Patrick and Madison helped me think through a new feedback-gathering strategy for my post-class interviews which uncovered new insights around the kind of support folks need once they've gotten their first taste of fly fishing. We had a nice conversation about it, which they included in their column for the University of Missouri's Reynolds Journalism Institute. Fancy!
Second, and way closer to home, I talked with my pals at brand studio Saint Friend for their Catchup and Mustread email. Each edition has a Q&A with someone interesting, a little trend analysis, and a poem. How lovely!
I've known the founders of Saint Friend for going on a decade or so now, but only a few years ago moved to a house down the street from them, so it was nice to turn our analog dog-walk waves into something on the internet. Have a read through the questionnaire.
This image should really whet your appetite: fly rod, Japanese stationery, open source software, cheap NA beer, John Prine. That's truly how the sausage is made.
ICYMI: Rewiring our brains with animal migrations
Take a peek inside the Live Migrations project with creator Tucker Malarkey and discover how it's convening livestream audiences around a digital campfire.
Find some new water closer to home
Join Marc Fryt on a special scouting mission on Saturday, September 26th in and around downtown Portland, as we visit several prime spots and hear from the author The Guide to Urban Fly Fishing on the best ways to fish them.
Event calendar
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.
September
September 12, Clackamas River, OR
Clackamas Down the River Cleanup (Clackamas River Basin Council)
September 17, Bozeman, MT
Montana Stream Access Rally (Keep Our Rivers Public)
September 19, Molalla, OR
Molalla River Fall Cleanup (Molalla River Watch)
CFS: September 20, Portland OR
Casual casting at Westmoreland Park (Register here)
CFS: September 22, Portland, OR
Snow Peak hang at Tabiki, 4-6pm (No registration needed)
September 22, Steeplejack Brewing, Portland, OR
Pal o' CFS Jesse Lance Robbins is swinging through Portland for a reading with Water Watch, 6:30-7:30pm. (Register here)
CFS: September 26, Portland OR
Urban PDX scouting with Marc Fryt (Register here)
October
CFS: October 6-10, Portland OR
PCC Intro to Fly Fishing (sold out)
Leaders ➰
Fishy links to start your week. Got one to share? Hit reply and send it over! 🪝
Distance for show, accuracy for dough 🎯 (4 min read)
Everybody wants to cast far, but to catch more fish you have to cast on target. Joe Mahler offers some tips and drills to dial in your casting accuracy. (epicflyrods.com)
Classic salmon flies and the birds who feathered them 🪶 (2 min read)
An episode of This American Life delved deep into The Feather Thief, but this web extra looks at classic Atlantic salmon flies and the (now mostly endangered) birds whose feathers made up the recipes. (thisamericanlife.org)
The convoluted journey of Upper Deschutes chinook 🧭 (6 min read)
Deschutes River Steward Mark Metzdorff responds to a recent 'Mission accomplished'-type article celebrating the presence of chinook in the Metolius basin. His argument lays out how the convoluted, expensive series of ladders and trucking fish has a much simpler solution. (nativefishsociety.org)
To grow fish, grow flood plains 🏖️ (8 min read)
Almost a million native trees and shrubs are turning the confluence of the Willamette, Santiam and Luckiamute rivers into a vital floodplain forest nurturing fish and other wildlife. (columbiainsight.org)
Speeding restoration on the Klamath 🌱 (2 min read)
Post-dam removal, post wildfire, post mining damage, the Yurok and Karuk tribes are launching a 45-acre Stage Zero habitat restoration project on the Klamath river. (midcurrent.com)
If you restore it, they will come 🧰 (5 min read)
Further upstream, more good news on the Klamath, and for dam removal in general: "Chinook salmon reoccupied 88% of their historical range within just two migratory seasons." (caltrout.org)
We've raised over $10,000 for the Deschutes River Alliance and sent ribbon maps to supporters in over 14 states! Have you got yours yet?
That's it that's all! Current Flow State is a weekly newsletter from me, Nick Parish. You can also find CFS on Bluesky 🦋, Instagram 📸, YouTube 🎥, or the Fishcord 💬
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