I remember Chase hitting me in the nuts so many times I didn’t want to be friends anymore, and fishing with Chase and being so grateful that I found such a close friend through this interest we share. I remember cooking breakfast on the banks of the Deschutes and briefly being distracted from the fact that I hadn’t, and didn’t expect to catch a steelhead. I remember looking at pictures of success with my friends over dinner and breaking the silence of an unsuccessful day with laughter.
Eight years later, Chase has a kid, Bryan has 2, while I have none and still actually go fishing. Maybe next year we will finally end up in British Columbia. Maybe next year we will catch a tarpon. Maybe Chase will stop hitting me in the nuts. All I really hope is that those memories will be documented as well as they have been thus far. And I hope we continue making those memories for a long time.
Finally, I want to thank Bryan for creating this medium and for his creative vision and tireless work that have produced this wonderful magazine. This is truly a labor of love, to constantly reach out to members of the fly fishing community and consistently bring top notch content to us. I hope you have enjoyed it the same way I have. I love fly fishing and I love writing, Bryan gave me the opportunity to marry those passions in a way I would have never had otherwise. Thank you so much for these adventures. Thank you so much for bringing these experiences to our circle of wonderful friends. And thanks for being mine.
-Staph