The Drake

Fishing a Laurel Hell

In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself within a dark woods where the straight way was lost.
—Dante Alighieri, The Inferno

N APPALACHIA, there’s no straight way to travel. Laurel hell grows thick, and the only way to navigate it is to put your feet in a streambed and follow every meander and oxbow of the creek.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Drake

The Drake6 min read
The Sun Also Rises In The Pyrenees
It’s six a.m. on a July day in the Spanish part of the Pyrenees and I just left a beautiful inn with my backpack and fly rod to start a fishing day with my friend, Iván Tarin. There is no one on the streets. The temperature is cool but pleasant. We w
The Drake1 min read
Ask Trask
Q: Dear Trask, Wassup with Biden’s dog? Is he taking the name “Commander” a bit too literally? Twenty-four times he’s bitten Secret Service agents? President Biden has eleven agents assigned to him, and Commander has bitten all eleven! He’s giving th
The Drake4 min read
Largemouth Lair
MOM AND DAD were both farm kids raised in the Missouri Ozarks, Mom was among twelve siblings and Dad one of eleven. The aftermath of WWII eventually drew them and many siblings into the closest big city, St. Louis, for jobs and the beginnings of thei

Related