One of my goals this year has been to try and simplify things in my life. And while it has been fun to do, the demands of keeping the website infrastructure updated takes time away from things I would rather be doing like fishing or playing with my grandkids.
I enjoy the writing best of all and to keep doing that without getting bogged down in the logistics of a website, I’ve started a SubStack newsletter called Tales from a Trout Wrangler. That means Dispatches will essentially be retired although the old articles and images will remain in place.
Tales From a Trout Wrangler chronicles things I learn as a fly-fishing guide for Mossy Creek Fly Fishing as well as from my personal fly-fishing travels. I’ll share lessons learned, tactics and tips that I think will help others enjoy their time on the water. Much like the content here on Dispatches, it will be a gumbo of topics with a heavy emphasis on fly-fishing, but conservation and politics may wind up in there from time to time.
My plan is to put out a newsletter every other week or so. At this point I’m not sure exactly what that will look like and it very well my go through some revisions as I sort out what works and doesn’t.
In each edition I’ll share fly-fishing tales, travels, tactics and tips that I’ve found useful, informative, entertaining or some combination of each. I’ll draw on my guiding experience as well as my own time on the water, especially in Virginia’s mountain streams with my beloved brook trout.
I hope you will subscribe to Tales from a Trout Wrangler and that you enjoy the tales as much as I do putting them together.
If you want my political takes, I created Outside Politics as a separate substack.
I’ll be writing backstories and opinion on the politics of conservation and outdoor recreation policy making. With more than 40 years of political and federal policy work under my belt, I’ve gotten pretty good at figuring that stuff out. Subcribe and join the conversation.