Swift Thinking

Daily Drake, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2023, Homepage Content, Humor, LifestyleLeave a comment

The look in my wife’s eyes suggested that what she was about to tell me would be a crushing blow. “I wasn’t able to get a ticket for you,” she said. “I’m so sorry.” The ticket in question was to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which, in the world of our teen and pre-teen daughters, is serious currency. My wife had secured six such tickets to the sold-out concert at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. All of which were allotted to my daughters, their friends, and their moms. I put my hands on my wife’s shoulders, looked her straight in the eyes and replied, “Don’t worry, honey. I’ll try to find something else to do.”

Photo by Josh Idol

Silver Lining Kings. Long walks on the beach in Southeast Florida.

Conservation, Daily Drake, Destination travel, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2020, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Winter 2020, Homepage Content, Saltwater Fly FishingLeave a comment

My first tarpon on a fly was a stout, laid-up fish that ate my worm and broke me off an hour later. I was a teenager at the time, and fortunate to have a father who took me on an annual spring trip to the Keys. But as I grew older and started achieving some success on the bow, my focus shifted to permit. Like many permit anglers, my trips often ended with a long flight home, followed by a long-winded explanation to my wife about how I could spend three days fishing, catch nothing, yet still feel the trip was “a step in the right direction.” At the height of my addiction, I was focusing more on the seconds ticking away on my watch than I was on scanning the water. I’d lost the mental game before even stepping on the skiff.

Redfish friendly habitat in Northeast Florida. Photo: Alex Coleman

Redfish friendly habitat in Northeast Florida. Photo: Alex Coleman

North Florida Floodtides. Charleston isn’t the only tailing zone.

Daily Drake, Destination travel, Dogs, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2020, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Fall 2020, Homepage Content, Lifestyle, U.S. placesLeave a comment

If you’re unfamiliar with flood-tide fishing, imagine your grassy front yard that your kid was supposed to cut three weeks ago but hasn’t. In the West this might attract crickets or hoppers, but in the coastal Southeast, when the right moons and weather combine, the grass floods, attracting snails. The snails attract fiddler crabs, the crabs attract redfish, and the redfish attract us.

CHICKEE CHECK-IN TIME.

PHOTO BY JEREMY CLARK

Swamped

Conservation, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Summer 2019, Policy/Politics/Laws, The Put In2 Comments

Revivalists and renegades in South Florida’s Everglades It begins as a subtle unzippering across the surface. Nothing more than shape and motion—forcing the brain to calculate distance to target, direction of movement, and speed of travel. These computations form the basis of what comes next: an attempt to drop a bottlecap-sized fly in the path…

"HOW CAN I BE THE ONLY ONE OUT HERE FISHING?"

PHOTO BY NICK PRICE

Snook and Solitude

Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Summer 2019, Lifestyle, The Put In, U.S. placesLeave a comment

Just another walk on the beach My primary tactic for snook in South Florida revolves around what my friend, Bear, calls “people avoidance.” It’s become a mantra that leads us toward, through, and past things—not only what river-section to float or campsite to choose, but when to pick up or set down certain hobbies, learn…

Competition runs deep in the Biloxi Marsh

Sheepish – Sheepy Tournament Competition

Destination travel, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Fall 2017, Humor, Lifestyle1 Comment

Booze consumed me as I sat listless in the upper bar of the Dogwood; a restored Mississippi riverboat docked a few hundred yards east of the Hopedale, Louisiana, boat launch. For the next two days and nights, the Dogwood would serve as home and headquarters to anglers competing in the 2017 Sheepy tournament—a tongue-in-cheek backcountry…

Borski in his studio

48 Hours with Tim Borski

Destination travel, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2010, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Winter/Spring 2010, Flies, Fly Fishing Art, Lifestyle2 Comments

IT’S 3:00 A.M. IN THE EVERGLADES AND TIM BORSKI IS LOOKING FOR SNAKES. I’m riding along with him as we drive very slowly down State Road 9336—the only four-digit road in Florida. It is 34 miles from Florida City to Flamingo, a distance we are currently covering at about 15 miles per hour. “Right up…

City Limits: Orlando, Florida

Where golf balls and bass live in harmony

bass, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2012, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Winter 2012, Lodges, Outfitters, and Guides, U.S. places7 Comments

Sneaking onto a golf course to catch a few unguarded bass is one of the most time-honored traditions in flyfishing, especially if you’re a golfer. Who among us hasn’t walked down some random Sun Belt fairway (or rough, more likely) only to peer upon a hungry four-pounder lurking in a water hazard along the way?…

Because 1% of fishermen catch 99% of the fish

Occupy Duval Street

Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2011, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Winter 2011, Humor, LifestyleLeave a comment

Immediately institute “Finder’s Keeper’s” rule for all bales of pot that wash up in the Marquesas. Ditch Hemingway look-a-like contest and expand Fantasy Fest to the first Saturday of each month. Boobs and feather boas ring cash registers. Old fat white guys with beards, not so much. Student loan relief from Key West Community College,…

WORTH THE WADE

Worth the Wade

Destination travel, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2011, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Fall 2011, Humor, Lifestyle, OpinionLeave a comment

The water’s surface is oily and shiny and silver and orange. The outgoing tide is tepid, with the current passing between your legs being the only indication that you’re wading, because the water is the same temperature as your shaking, nervous body. “Remember to breathe.” Vision drifting in and out, eyes straining for focus. Legs…

Barracuda Blues

Barracuda Blues

Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2011, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Spring 2011, Humor, Lifestyle, Saltwater Fly Fishing2 Comments

For every good shot at a tarpon, permit, or bonefish, there’s a cast-per-hour-of-effort ratio that on most days looks like a line graph of the U.S. economy. Then there are those days that you instantly know you’re losing, like a cold February morning when even the boxfish are lurking deep and you’re just hoping for…

Northwoods Angler in Whitefish, Montana.

Northwoods Angler

Fly Fishing Industry, Flyshop Friday, Lodges, Outfitters, and GuidesLeave a comment

WHITEFISH, MT—Scott Fenwick says Northwoods Angler “isn’t your regular fly shop.” It only takes a few seconds inside to understand what he’s talking about. There are rare books, collectible paintings, antique signs and surfboards scattered among the requisite flies, rods and other fishing gear. In one room, underneath a television displaying a flyfishing adventure documentary,…