“Tim Schulz is an excellent angler, a fine man, and he’s put together a delightful collection of essays and yarns. They’re clear-headed, big-hearted, witty, smart, honest, and good-natured—all the qualities I admire most in writings about fishing.”
“When tradition, friendship, family and fly-fishing all flow together, the result can be many memories that last a lifetime. In The Habits of Trout Tim Schulz’s stories and essays capture the very essence of his fly-fishing remembrances with words that touch the heart and inspire the soul. Schulz’s well-written pieces offer a glimpse into a northern Michigan way of life—a lifestyle very much worth sharing.”
“Tim Schulz dedicates his energies to rivers and trout in a manner beyond addiction, and his first collection of stories epitomizes the light-hearted devotion with which he explores the habitats of trout and the lore of Michigan’s wild Upper Peninsula.”
“You know a book is good when you decide to read just a chapter or two, and then find yourself lost in its depths. You know it’s really good when, while you’re reading it, you’re making mental notes about which of your fishing buddies needs a copy. Tim Schulz tells a fine story. The voice in his words is clear and bright, like a particularly good day on the water.”
We're likely to remember this summer in part because of the great essays in Tim Schulz's engaging new book The Habits of Trout. This week we offer an excerpt from the book, a story called "It Looked Like He Knew What He Was Doing." The subject of the story is an expert pilot and college professor who nonetheless lacks the discipline and practice to be an accomplished trout angler. Which is a recipe for failure. Or is it?
There is, or so I’ve been told, no need for books like this particular volume of beautifully written, nostalgia-tinged stories. The days of whimsical and humorous fly fishing yarns supposedly ended with the passing of fax machines and VCRs. Fortunately, though, no one bothered to tell Tim Schulz, who has penned a wonderful little book filled with wry observations, a gentle wit and a deep & abiding love for trout fishing in general and John Voelker’s storied Michigan countryside in particular.
Imagine a land where virgin pines tower over frigid rivers, chock-full of wild and unsullied fish. Slate blue or grayish fish with olive-green backs and oversized dorsal fins spattered with specks of gold and pearl. Read more…
I wade out of the Big Hole River, put my rod in its case, and store my reel in a bag with ten others—eight of which will stay in the bag for the entire trip. Read more…
One fish, ten fish, big fish, Zen fish. That’s how Theodor Geisel—Dr. Seuss from our child- and parent-hoods—might have described the fly-fisher’s journey. In his excellent essay, “The Five Stages of Fly Fishing,” Todd Tanner Read more…
I caught the first fish of my life with a worm suspended below a bobber. In my early years, that was the only way I fished. My rod was a cane pole; the fish most Read more…
Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the Cat. —Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Last night, Read more…
Every time I’ve considered cancelling this trip, Roxanne has talked me out of it. She reminds me about bookings with guides, commitments to friends, and the ticket our son Daniel bought to fly from San Read more…
It’s finally the day that I depart for Montana, and I’ve packed the truck with all the supplies I’ll need to eat, sleep and fish for the next three weeks. Enough stuff, actually, to stay Read more…
With direct access from the parking lot to your room, I know that Gates Au Sable Lodge in Grayling, Michigan looks more like a motel—or motor lodge—than the type of lodge Roxanne would have in mind. Read more…
How do you see a place like Montana? A place that is roughly 550 miles across at its widest, and—in total—occupies more of the planet’s surface than Japan. A place with magnificent rivers that push Read more…