The Tackle Box

The Real Creel

[30.Apr.08] :. Creels contain volumes of wonderfully imaginative “catches” that, unlike the box’s contents in the myth, unleash a swarm of positive stories and memories that continue life’s flow.

Shad: An Undeniably American Icon

[27.Mar.08] :. Emerson spoke of it in a eulogy for Thoreau, not long after, it fueled Doherty and his cavalry in their relentless pursuit of Booth -- no wonder McPhee calls it America's "founding fish".

Trout Fishing in America

[22.Feb.08] :. Richard Brautigan’s minimalist prose wove hallucinations into social commentary, pastoral meditations into cultural satire, and journalistic reports about mundane existence into nihilistic, punkish sirens.

Some Thoughts on the Holiday Season’s Über Pop Icon

[21.Dec.07] :. Imagine sitting down to a fish dinner with Ernest Hemingway, Izaak Walton, Norman Maclean, and the ultimate Fisher of Men.

Hooked by Antique Lures

[27.Nov.07] :. Who is more captive to the prized antique fishing lure, fish or fisherman? With fishing, what you catch, or what catches your fancy, is not always in the water.

Fishing, Fathers, and Sons

[2.Nov.07] :. We’re all mythical creatures created from stories that blend fact and fiction, myth and reality, into a magical whole, and no tale does this the better than the fish story.

Beware the Kraken from the Deep

[14.Sep.07] :. Giant eyes, rows of large teeth, and emitting a nasty stench, amorphous, ugly, enormous, and ravenously hungry, the kraken is the perfect antagonist, and makes many appearances in film and literature.

Giant Catfish…Only a Noodle Away

[1.Aug.07] :. Catfish are strong, eccentric characters that have for many years snubbed their bottom-feeding whiskered noses at the angling establishment. But still, they're suckers for a wiggling finger.

Predatory Nature

[29.Jun.07] :. Sharks, the legendary "terrors of the deep", are at the complete mercy of the fiercest predator of all. Let's show some mercy.

The Kings of Crabs

[23.Apr.07] :. The Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catchgives one reason to pause and reflect between savory bites of Alaskan king crab.

Ed Zern: The Fisher King of Droll

[3.Apr.07] :. Like any curmudgeon, Ed Zern criticized everything, including himself, the sport, and other anglers because they all periodically blocked his path to the river.

Defying Extinction and Celebrating the Strange

[26.Feb.07] :. Some might say the elusive coelacanth, in spite of its primordial ugliness, has attained rock star status in the popular imagination.