The part that isn’t a number.
Field Notes is the evidence — what the engine called, and what the water did about it. This is everything else: why any of it got built, and what the days are actually like.
Not a Kayak Day
On judgment, limitations, and knowing when to leave the kayak on the truck
Two Sides of the Same Water
The divide between bank fishermen and boat fishermen.
Why I Haven’t Hit Record
The water isn’t waiting for me to become a better filmmaker.
The Confidence to Make One More Cast
Confidence is knowledge converted into action. And fishing requires an enormous amount of it.
Learning to Fish the Seasons
Fishing has taught me to notice seasons. Getting older has taught me to feel them.
Our Turn
Leave something worth coming back to, and give the next person their turn.
The Fish Has Not Been Informed
A score isn’t a promise. A forecast isn’t a contract.
Twenty Walleye and One King
Twenty walleye weren’t equal to one King. Not even close.
Why Fish?
The easy answers are all true. None of them are the answer.
A Forecast That Only Says GO
Better information concentrates anglers on the same water on the same day. A forecast built to find a reason to go removes the uncertainty that used to limit effort — and the clearest example I have is a seven-point swing this engine produced with nothing behind it but the calendar.
The Most Expensive Answer Is WAIT
If uncertainty always becomes an argument for going, the engine isn’t evaluating anything. What it costs to say wait — and the two times in August the engine was less useful than its score implied.
Is Tomorrow Worth Going?
I didn’t start Outside Lines PNW because I have the outdoors figured out. I started it because I don’t.