Matt SmytheNov 17, 20179 minFIVE WEIGHTNot here. You fuckers cannot follow me here. His dad looked over his shoulder from the tailgate at Charlie, standing in the tall grass...
Matt SmytheSep 4, 20151 minBRECKENRIDGEIn just a short couple weeks, I’ll be heading out to Colorado for the 2015 Breckenridge Film Festival. As some of you may already know,...
Matt SmytheJul 25, 20153 minHARDWOODSI unearthed my old grad school poet’s notebook this morning. Cracking the cover, I found a sheaf of paper that held several iterations of...
Matt SmytheApr 17, 20151 minTHE DISTANCE BETWEENThey’re like clockwork against the far bank. Two browns holding down the midge-buffet line. Rise…rise. Count three. Rise…rise. I know how...
Matt SmytheApr 1, 20151 minHUSH FOR ONE SECONDhush for one second I said hold still what do you hear I asked geese wind everything then off they went
Matt SmytheDec 31, 20142 minPEACE, REGARDLESSI sing my wisdomless parable to the again changing season. To the birds’ hushed morning selves. To the gathering blanket of snow. To the...
Matt SmytheDec 29, 20143 minWEST TO WATERMidway from Chicago to LA it still hasn’t hit me. Sprawling canyon, salt flat, scrub brown and mountains crawl below. I carried on three...
Matt SmytheDec 9, 20144 minTHE COURAGE OF HOPEI have two handwritten quotes on two small pieces of yellow legal paper taped to the wall next to my desk. Each given to me by friends at...
Matt SmytheDec 4, 20143 minSHOOTING DARTS IN ALASKAWhen the day falls and the thin promise of neon rises, the brown liquor and beer go down easier, and with more truth, and there’s a vague...
Matt SmytheSep 24, 20141 minFIVE YEARSFive years ago today I hit publish on my first post here. I had spend the better part of two months trying to figure out what it was that...
Matt SmytheJul 22, 20145 minDISPATCH FROM BEAVER ISLANDFrom the Monday I received Kevin Morlock’s email inviting me to fly fish for carp on Beaver Island, to the Wednesday when the wheels of...
Matt SmytheApr 6, 20142 minGLORIOUS MAYHEMLast year we got into fish. Maybe a dozen six-to-ten-pound lake-run soupbones that had a mind to break our ankles before we even took a...
Matt SmytheMar 28, 20143 minWHERE THE ROAD NARROWSWhen we piled out into the dust and cool of the morning we were barely a quarter-mile from the end of the road. Unlike the sprawling...
Matt SmytheJan 4, 20141 minTRACKS IN JANUARY SNOWI turn to head back inside pressing new steps into the snow different than the ones that brought me here
Matt SmytheNov 26, 20134 minTHE THINGS WE CARRYThere was not much room for gear. A rod tube or two and small day pack each, plus the 5-gallon survival bucket, shotgun and a waterproof...
Matt SmytheJul 31, 20131 minINHALING GIANTNESSMy journal holds a breadcrumb collection from the path I just traveled. Loosely penned notes, dates, times, temps, names. Hopeful...
Matt SmytheJul 15, 20131 minOUT OF OFFICEElectronic communications will stop somewhere short of my location for the next week. I’ll catch up with you when I get back on 7/23. Be...
Matt SmytheJun 14, 20131 minTHAT IS THE TEMPOThe boys and I and my friend Jason hit opening day of trout season on a reasonably-kept secret Finger Lakes stream again this past April...
Matt SmytheJun 6, 20132 minSKIFF FULL-ON RUNNINGSkiff full-on running out of Islamorada open water pounding wave to wave in the backcountry fleeting bottom playing tag rising and...
Matt SmytheMay 30, 20131 minBY THE TIME YOU READ THISBy the time you read this I’ll be on a plane that’ll deliver me from my northern Point A to a southern connection that’ll then deliver me...