@nickparish
Author, editor, and angler from the Great Lakes, currently ranging near the Columbia River drainage in the Cascadia bioregion. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter to make fly fishing a bigger part of your life: https://www.currentflowstate.com/subscribe
What happens when you lose your fishing partner? What about when that's your life partner, too, your true love? This is a moving portrait of the relationship between Cathy and Barry Beck as told by Joshua Caldwell, director of the Netflix hit “Mending the Line”. www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpUI...
When a kayaker abruptly abandoned his party and disappeared during a trip down the wild and unpredictable Illinois River in Southern Oregon, Nicole Smedegaard helped mobilize the initial Search and Recovery effort. This account of the rescue is textbook planning and comms:
Today in the CFS Weekly Update: Private equity is buying Michigan dams, George Daniel gives beginner students advice, salmon and steelhead get a win on the Columbia, and more. Sign up to get it direct to your inbox every Monday!
Not just in media, overall. The amount of interest / attention to climate change has plummeted. Maybe people are distracted by more immediate things, but last year was Oregon's third hottest year in records dating back to 1895. Almost every year since 2020 has been in the top 10.
Turns out the now-struck endangerment finding and federal EPA statutes were used as arguments against local litigation around fossil fuel harms, which, Dharna Noor writes, has local groups refocusing: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
With no population growth and a history of new local legislation to benefit its major data center tenant, Google, the city of The Dalles in Oregon is facing outcry as it attempts to acquire significant acreage and water rights in the Mount Hood National Forest: www.sfgate.com/national-par...
Quick double-haul tip from Captain Chris Meyers: Don't let your hands get too far apart on the back cast, or that'll rob you of the line tension you need to start bending the rod immediately on the forward casting stroke.
Over at Midcurrent angler and musician Rick Mikesell suggests that golf and golf clubs aren't the right analog for fly fishing and fly rods. The relationship of the rod to the sport is more akin to that of the guitar and the musician. midcurrent.com/v2/gear-pers...
A friend who lives on Greenwood Lake sent me this notice about a potential state record northern pike (it's a musky?) and my first thought was whether it could qualify for both New York and New Jersey state records, since the lake spans the state border: www.wvdispatch.com/2026/02/warw...
The Boundary Waters vote this week is the canary in the copper mine, uranium mine, whatever toxic extractive resource grab metaphor you want to use. Let your Senator know where you stand: www.circleofblue.org/2026/water-p...
It was the fishiest Olympics ever, and that got me thinking about good flow vs. shitty flow: www.currentflowstate.com/death-to-shi...
Scatter plot showing the date of peak cherry blossom in Kyoto, Japan from 812 to present, with a 20-year average trend line. The trend line shows a sharp decline in recent decades, with blossoms now peaking around late March to early April — earlier than at any point in the 1,200-year record.
Also in PDX. Our magnolias are going too. Cherries make me especially sad after seeing this chart:
New in the Weekly Update: Death To Shitty Flow www.currentflowstate.com/death-to-shi...
A deal has come together that would allow Oregon to purchase Abiqua Falls and 200 acres of surrounding forest for a new park, in a bill being considered this week by the legislature.
The deal includes an agreement with Mt. Angel Abbey that put the falls up for sale: tinyurl.com/4fufhm7n
I really wanted to read Cecil Heacox's classic Charmed Circle articles from the March/April 1969 issues of Outdoor Life, but I couldn't find them anywhere online. So I tracked down physical copies and scanned them so you can read them, too. cagrimmett.com/2026/03/01/c... #flyfishing
HST still echoing.
I think about this Tony Benn speech much more than I used to
“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness… The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live…is…victory.” Howard Zinn
“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness… The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live…is…victory.” Howard Zinn
What does it say about me as an angler that the most fancy things I regular spend money on are premium fly boxes from Japan? New on CFS, a gear-gush: www.currentflowstate.com/you-only-nee... #flyfishing #flytying
The mental gymnastics needed by NOAA to look at abysmal steelhead returns on the Olympic Peninsula and the habitat challenges they face, and determine while they're at moderate risk of extinction in the next 40-60 years they shouldn't today be given ESA is beyond. midcurrent.com/2026/02/16/o...
You should develop a smallmouth bass practice. They're great fun on a fly rod, and eager participants in the spring pre-spawn period, once water temperatures reach 50 degrees. Midcurrent's Marshall Cutchin wrote about how to start: midcurrent.com/v2/how-to-pl...
Yeah, good point--I got a Goodwill haul from my Mother-in-Law a couple years ago and besides being raggedy with age the hooks definitely seem more prone to breakage. And, also, maybe, they seem like more complicated patterns to tie?
Do you fish old flies? I have a weird bias against them. I can't explain it. The gut feeling that they're less effective. All nonsense, of course. I thought this was good: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzYM...
Salmon need a balanced diet too, Alastair Bland decodes a paper describing how the lack of vitamin B1, or thiamine, is impacting winter run populations of Sacramento River winter-run chinook. The culprit? Too many anchovies. www.biographic.com/a-mysterious...
Now's a good time of the year for a little intention-setting and accountability for what you're trying to do with your fishing this year. Here's how: www.currentflowstate.com/check-in-on-...
Killing sea lions won't help salmon much, but it is plenty of chum for her base.
if dan rayfield successfully kills the liberation day tariffs it would be the second time in five years that an oregon politician has bailed out the entire united states economy
The five words every grifter fears: I WANT MY MONEY BACK
Hey Sacramento / Bay area folks! On March 5th, @caltrout.bsky.social is leading a tour of floodplain habitat improvements on the lower Sacramento River to aid juvenile salmon: secure.caltrout.org/nx/portal/ne...
