Soon after I had settled in as a Virginian, I discovered a magical place called The Sport Shop. It was a small, sporting goods shop in Barracks Road Shopping Center run by one of the greatest fishermen ever to complete a roll cast. It was Chuck Kraft’s Sport Shop, specializing in fly fishing. I had done some fly fishing in my younger days. In fact, I got my first fly rod and caught a half dozen … [Read more...]

There have been lots of fish in my life – big ones, little ones and lots in between. Strangely, the ones that really stand out in the scrapbook of my memories are the ones that got away. Fish that you catch and land are embedded in reality. If that smallmouth measured 21-inches, that’s as big as he’ll ever get. The ones that got away, however, are not limited by a set of scales or a yardstick. In … [Read more...]

This was the fishing reel that changed my life – at least as far as fishing was concerned. When I began my career as a Devout Angler, there were cane poles and Pfleuger rods and reels. That’s it. Choose a cane pole and your casting was restricted to about 12 feet, depending on the wind; or choose a bait casting reel and you had to use a lure with approximate weight of a bowling ball to make a … [Read more...]

Life was not easy for a young bass fisherman in West Virginia in the 1950’s. First, there weren’t that many ponds and lakes. This was limestone country where water typically slithers through the soil and rocks and ends up 100 feet below the surface. The winters were cold back then so the growing season for warm water fish was short and sweet. I had been fishing now for 8 years and had nothing to … [Read more...]

I was born to fish. Really. Fishing has always been in my blood. One of my earliest memories, before I had once wet a line, was sitting in Mama Ida’s lap as she read me the Sunday comics. One of those strips was “Henry”, a bald-headed kid who also loved to fish. Henry would often be depicted walking down the street with a rod in his hand and a stringer of fish over his shoulder. Those fish … [Read more...]