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 fly angler with a sling pack and net stands at the edge of a riffle on a river in Montana, a large boulder across the current.
Guest Post

A Beautiful Drift

A guest essay from Tom Costa on the unexpected trout, and four feet of water under the alders on a Montana back channel.

The Long ViewJohn Place and his son at the Firehole Outdoors booth at the Fly Fishing Show in Marlboro, Massachusetts

One Year In

A year ago this month I bought a hook company. I thought I knew what I was buying.

Around the FireHeadlights on a dark two-lane road seen through a truck windshield, with the instrument cluster glowing at the bottom of the frame

The Drive Home

It is dark by the time we are off the water now. The drive back is the part I would keep.

At the ViseAn open fly box with bare foam slots where nymphs were lost over the spring

The Empty Slots

You do not have to remember which flies worked. The box remembers for you.

On the WaterKnox Covered Bridge in Valley Forge National Historical Park

The River You Grew Up On

The river you grew up on isn't always the first one you fished. Mine is Valley Creek.

The Long ViewFour bare Firehole Sticks barbless hooks on white, showing jig, curved and standard shank profiles

Why I Care About Barbless

It is not a trend. It is not a marketing angle. It is a principle.

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