I have been trying to find the most poetic words I can to describe my achievement. It doesn't matter what I say because if you weren't there (and you weren't) then you can't know how it felt. The only people who can understand the triumph I have now tasted are those who have

After spending the end of 2007 in Dallas and listening to my friend tell stories of great winter fishing in Oregon, I decided to permanently move there. I didn't want to get on the plane after my trip in October was over, but I had a feeling someday I'd be back.

Locals call it Stumptown because

The Sandy River is one of the most famous steelhead rivers in Oregon. Known for its runs of native bucks in February and March, this river draws a lot of anglers. Hatchery steelhead make their runs earlier and start in December and January.

The Clackamas, the river for which boat maker Clackacraft

Testimonial: Flyfishing in Dallas has its boundaries, and I can only fish for bluegills so many days out of the week without getting a little antsy. So I went to college in Virginia to play football and I found myself surrounded by trout streams. Virginia is not exactly a trout fishing mecca, but it sustained me for four years through college. I quickly became obsessed with fishing, and tried to go whenever I could. I worked on the Delaware River last summer and gained some incredible knowledge from some very talented flyfishermen at the Delaware River Club.

These are not the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The Blue Ridge are big hills compared to the Medicine Bow Mountains, and the Medicine Bow are foothills compared to the Rocky and Sierra Madre Mountains. This is the West. I don't know why but since the days of John Wayne, the West has had some sort of cavalier aura around it that made sense to me. I wanted to move "out West" before I saw my first snowcap in a National Geographic. The rivers here inspire me. Excuse me for the next few sentences, but I have to get a little cliche.

Anyway, I was fishing it and out of the depths comes a nice 16-inch Brown that cartwheeled out of the water and tried his best to rip the rod out of my hand. I landed him and was satisfied. I kept fishing and a few casts later, BAM, an awesome 18-inch Rainbow, my biggest fish landed since I have been here. I have hooked up with bigger fish on the Platte using the Gator but lost them. I was pretty pumped and went to put my rod down and watch my friends and drink a beer.