"In my family, there was no clear division between religion and fly fishing."  - Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

The quote is also the beginning of Rabbi Eric's Introduction to his background; he is a rabbi serving a congregation in Connecticut. Born and raised in St. Louis he has been on the east coast for nearly twenty years. Co-author Dr. Michael Attas is a cardiologist from Texas who, quoting the book here, "in his spare time, was ordained as an Episcopal priest and serves as guest preacher at his local congregation. He is also a professor at Baylor University where he teaches a class in medical humanities."

I walked down the hall and stood on the linoleum floor in the kitchen. At 7years old I wore only pajama pants, and the spring air had made the floor cold to my bare feet. Having just woke up to get ready for school it seemed odd that my dad, who normally left before daylight each morning, was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee and doing the newspaper crossword puzzle.

June 30th, today the Yellowstone River reached an all time high with flows over 38,000 CFS (Cubic Feet Per Second), yet the spring creeks are still safe. In 1974 we had what was called the fifty year flood, in 1996 we had the hundred year flood and that was followed in 1997 by the five hundred year flood. On each of these floods the river flows set new records. So is 2011 the thousand year flood, or do we start over with the new century.

Several years ago, I experimented with ways to tie an extended body mayfly with tails incorporated in the extended body, which was comprised of antron. A couple different versions caught fish, but each had shortcomings.

Recently, I ran across a furled body nymph on the FAOL Bulletin Board posted some time ago by BB member ducksterman, which used a product called Stretch Magic in the extended body. It dawned on me that that material might enhance the furled extended body, and the timing was good since I was planning for a green drake hatch on a Northern Idaho crick.

Fly anglers carry on many debates about various aspects of the sport, and these debates are part of the history of the sport. Some are legendary, like the dry fly vs. wet fly debate between adherents of the philosophy of Halford and the followers of Skues. Another enduring debate centers on presentation vs. imitation, and incorporated within this debate is the importance of color. Like any good meddler, I would like to toss out a few ideas that certainly will stir the emotions of some of my readers.

The Great State of Michigan, historically, has been a major player and contributor to fly fishing for over a century. With over 10,000 lakes and over 36,000 miles of beautiful rivers we've established ourselves as a true fishing mecca. The natural beauty of our blue ribbon trout streams, with romantic Indian names like the Au Sable, the Ontonagon, the Escanaba and the Tahquamenon, have drawn trout fishermen from all over the world.

I grew up east of the Mississippi, thirteen years in upstate New York and seventeen years in southern Lower Michigan. While fly fishing for trout became my passion, I spent many delightful hours watching a bobber dance while a fat bluegill or a slap-sided crappie tasted my bait. My older brother Robert and I owned a 12 foot aluminum V-hull with a 5 horse motor and we spent countless hours fishing the numerous lakes around our southern Michigan home. In time I discovered fly rod poppers and rubber spiders, but the targets remained the same.

Loch style fishing has been done on the Scottish lochs for many, many years. It doesn't only work here but on any still water, all that is needed is a little wind.

Some years ago a couple of friends of mine visited Hebgen Lake in Yellowstone. The local advice was to motor to the inlets and look for "gulpers". No one was having good sport at that time. Instead they fished "loch style" from a drifting boat. In the half day they fished over 50 trout came to their two rods.

I was out at a pond to try my luck. I had time to get out, but I did not take a lot of time to grab everything. It is a fairly long hike into the pond, so I only grabbed two fly rods, the fish basket and two boxes of flies in a fanny pack. I did not take my vest as I was wearing a fairly heavy coat. The wind was blowing about 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph. The temperature was about 45 degrees. Wind chill was not real fun.