The Enviable Life of a Retired Trout Bum

After a long career in the office or the shop, you deserve some time on the water

It's a late Saturday afternoon, two days past Thanksgiving. I'm down in the barn, sipping beer and trying to get motivated to finish the four knives that were promised as Christmas gifts. I'd spent most of the day at the fly shop, tying demo flies for the holiday crowd. The plan was for my friend Bob and me to spend the day at the shop building up our supply of flies, so we took our own materials with us. But the first little boy who stood and watched me tie got so excited that I caved and gave him the fly. Read more – offline – from the current issue; subscribe to FRR.