Have you ever really needed that lob wedge in your golf bag? I mean really needed it—like there was no other way to make the shot, and your score depended on holing out? Maybe that moment has come for you. If so, you were glad you carried that club around for the 764 holes where you never once thought about using it.

Some dates are communal anchors. September 11th is one of those days for many of us.

When I split the bamboo for my first handmade fly rod, I had this naive idea that the hard part would be the big gestures like splitting the cane in a way that would leave enough material to make all the pieces. Once I got through that step, the repetitive steps of planing and sanding were going to be my undoing—progress is slow, but one wrong movement and the whole thing gets scrapped. Almost fifty hours later I had learned that the craft lives in ability to get lost in the process and take each step for what it is — the small, exact actions that add up to making something amazing.

There’s a Difference Between Casting and Fishing

If you’ve ever stepped into a river at sunrise, you know the temptation. You tie on a favorite fly and start firing casts before your boots even settle on the gravel. It feels productive — movement, motion, momentum.

But you know better.