Fishing Junk Water
What started as the sketchiest junk lake turned into something much harder to leave behind
3/20/2026Michelle Jarvie
DO
Snowshoeing: Proof You Can Love Winter
A funny, honest take on snowshoeing for the “real you” not the expedition you. Learn what you actually need, how to pick the right size and bindings, and why walking-speed winter can be the season you start to love.
3/2/2026Dun Team
Winter Hiking Safety for Normal People (Not Expedition Athletes)
Winter hiking doesn’t have to be extreme to be safe and fun. This guide gives you a simple system—how to pick the right trail, dress in layers, pack a small safety kit, and know when to turn around—so you can enjoy cold-weather miles with confidence, not stress.
2/3/2026Dun Team
Gradual Untangling
Fly Tying? You want me to tie a fly? No way. I can’t even darn socks. I knew I had enrolled in a fly fishing school, but I never thought about the fly tying aspect that would accompany my studies. School started and there I was, my instructor persuading me to give it a try. Reluctantly I went to the tying area. With a heavy heart, I tried my hand at tying my first fly, and managed to make a large and splendid bug. That disheveled fly went on to startle many fish, but one showed interest; all was
7/20/2018Mari Kitagawa
Latest
Bear Spray
When I started fishing by myself, my dad gave me a can of bear spray. I laughed, thinking he was showing a little too much concern over an animal that had no great presence in my area of the world. “The best kind of friendships are fierce lady friendships where you aggressively believe in each other, defend each other, and think the other deserves the world.” Anonymous Over the years, I have never had to use said bear spray, but its presence on my wading belt has comforted me on occasion. The
3/21/2018Bridget Moran
All Hands On Deck
Long before I ever picked up a fly rod, I was hauling fish on the decks of commercial fishing boats, off the coast of Maine, as the onboard scientist for a commercial fishery-style survey evaluating groundfish (Atlantic cod, Atlantic halibut, haddock, hake, etc.). I was 22, a graduate student at the University of Maine studying marine biology and marine policy. The fisheries research survey I was part of, known as the Eastern Gulf of Maine Sentinel Survey (Sentinel Survey), was started eight ye
3/21/2018Mattie Rodrigue
New Waters
My non-fly fishing friends just don’t get it. Why do all the pictures on my Facebook page contain a fish? Haven’t I caught all the fish I need to catch? Why do I travel the world just to catch fish? And then they say, “You look so happy in that fish picture.” And, it’s true. There is no place I’m happier than on the water with rod in hand. Although I have some favorite rivers, I feel that tackling the unknown and fishing in new places with new friends has contributed to my growth and enjoyment.
3/21/2018Rebecca Blair
The Stages of Grief
When I was 14, my father taught me about fishing holes. We waded into the shallows of the Platte, the sun at our necks, muddy water lapping our ankles. He would point to the other side of the bank where the otherwise quick, singing water stilled and lay quiet. “That is where the fish rest” he would always say. He taught me to seek the calm that nature provides, despite its haunting chaos. When I was 19, my father taught me that despite seeking out the fishing holes, despite the singing water ar
11/15/2017Hannah Kramer
Dear Everett
Dear Everett, This is the story about your first 18-inch Westslope Cutthroat trout. At this time, you were only six months conceived and your name wasn’t Everett - it was Butternut Lebron. But that’s a story for a different bedtime. I wonder, butternut boy, if you remember that flash of green sliding up through the water column. I wonder if you remember the sunset red on its jaw as it sipped foam, hook, and feather off the surface. Did you hear the splash through the ambient auditory ocean of
11/15/2017Emerald Lafortune
Still Water
Americans are busier than ever in their daily lives with work, family, errands, and so many other endeavors that keep us on the move. The value of a pastime that brings a quiet and still space into our minds is truly priceless. I have fished my entire life, and I began fly fishing at age 17. Fishing has always brought me inner peace and mental clarity like nothing else can. Whether you are an aspiring angler, a beginner, or have a lifetime of fishing experience - I know that you, too, find peace
11/15/2017Lila Warren
Perspective
Maybe it was the morning light dancing along the river’s surface or the water softly lapping at my knees. Maybe it was the gentle breeze carrying the sweet pine smell through the valley or the tug on the line that allured me. Something in that early morning made me transfixed. Entranced. Mesmerized. Hypnotized. It was my first time fly fishing, and with every cast, I knew it would not be the last. From that moment on, my fly boxes were bursting with stoneflies, copper johns, scuds, RS2s, and se
11/15/2017Anna Ortega
Twenty Eight Years
I am sitting perfectly happy and consciously grateful in the black darkness of early dawn. My trusted, and well worn, Patagonia puff ball jacket is zipped up over red flannel pajamas as I rest my wool-socked feet on the hearth of a wood burning river rock fireplace. I feel myself slowly awakened by the taste of that essential first sip of steaming coffee as the sun starts making its way up in the sky, reliably lighting up the majesty of the natural beauty surrounding a hundred year-old farmhouse
11/15/2017Susan Rockrise
Firsts
I didn’t know what to expect flying from Winnipeg to the North Seal River area of Northern Manitoba to Gangler’s North Seal River Lodge. It was 6 am and barely light when departing on Calm Air Charters’ 10 passenger plane. We were greeted by our German-born pilot and native Madagascar co-pilot, both speaking better English than my Southern slang. They went over the safety rules and offered us snacks and water before takeoff. The flight was two hours, so we all settled in for a morning’s nap with
11/15/2017Wanda Taylor
Due North
It didn’t take more than five minutes to catch and release my first fish of the day. The river was barely 60 feet across, yet there seemed to be a hundred hungry mouths stacked in the riffles on either side of me. Every cast, regardless of how delicate or clean a drift, produced at least a nose of interest, if not a full-on attack. It was when one aggressive female, taking me completely by surprise, cleared the surface of the water and arced down upon my fly that I realized fishing for brook tro
11/15/2017Liz Ogilvie
The Exciting Answer
Out of all the places you have ever been, all the places you have ever put a line in the water, where is your absolute, all time favorite place to fly fish? Take a minute to think about your answer. Do you have a favorite place? Is it outside your back door or on the other side of the world? People ask me variations of this question all the time and I have a secret to share with you. This is one of the most difficult questions anyone could possibly ask me to answer! When I hesitate, and think
11/3/2017Cheryl Forner
Equal but Different
Orvis is on a mission-- unity and parity on the water. With the 50/50 on the Water campaign, a lofty goal has been set; an equal ratio of men to women fly anglers. What started as wishful thinking just two years ago has grown into a resounding call to action for Orvis as a company and the fly fishing industry as a whole. In less than two years, Orvis has earned three awards for its efforts. The first came from DUN Magazine. “We were pumped to receive the DUN Mayfly Award in recognition of our co
11/3/2017Debra Carr Brox