Next Bend Journal

The Next Bend Journal is where we slow down. Stories and reflections on the water, the vise, the fire at the end of the day, and the reasons we keep fishing. This is the reading, not the how-to.

A calm river in low summer water at last light, trees along the far bank catching the evening sun, an exposed gravel bar in the foreground
Around the Fire

The Sound of August

August has a sound, and it's crickets. The last slow month before the calendar fills.

At the ViseA group of pheasant tail nymphs and variants tied on barbless hooks, with copper wire ribbing and peacock and olive thoraxes

The First Fly I Ever Trusted

Everyone has a first fly. Not the first one you tied. The first one you trusted.

On the WaterThe Water That Looks Empty

The Water That Looks Empty

Every angler learns to read water for the obvious things. What takes longer is learning to distrust the flat.

The Long ViewFly tyer at the vise mid-tie, bench covered in thread spools, hackle, and materials

Playing the Long Game

The pull, when you take over a brand that needs rebuilding is to move fast. Announce something. Change things where people can see them. Prove to the world, and to yourself, that the decision was ...

Around the FireThe Last Night

The Last Night

The kids were asleep by nine. All four of them. The week had used them up the way good weeks do.

At the ViseWhy We Still Tie Our Own Flies

Why We Still Tie Our Own Flies

There are seventeen pheasant tail nymphs in my box. Proven pattern. Fish it every spring. And yet, on a Tuesday night in January, with the nearest trout water four months away, a spool of copper wi...

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