The Drake

The Long Haul

“NEXT YEAR I want you and I to go bonefishing together,” Dad says from his chair as I walk by him. I’m frozen in my step and dread fills my gut. I’m unable to form words for a response. He fumbles with the tablet in his blanketed lap and, with trembling hands, is somehow able to open a website with pictures of turquoise flats. “I’ll pay.”

Scattered around him is an aluminum walker, a pile of wading

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

More from The Drake

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
The Drake2 min read
Urban Reveal
A YOUNG ANGLER lands a nice-ish trout and wants to share the photo, not only because of the fish, but because of the location: at the base of a waterfall, beneath a big bridge and a gondola, in downtown Spokane, Washington. He posts the photo and get
The Drake3 min read
Outfoxed
SOMETIMES, CATCH-AND-RELEASE flyfishing can feel dogmatic, with unending imagery of anglers coddling fish just before a pre-ordained release. I get it: putting fish back may be the single-most effective act of individual conservation we can make. So,

Related Books & Audiobooks