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David Mehegan's piece in the Boston Globe reminded me this morning of a story told to me by Steve Huff. He was guiding two long-time friends in the Everglades backcountry, and while landing a tarpon, one of the anglers dropped dead of a heart attack. After performing CPR on his friend, the angler turned to Steve and said: "Should we keep on fishing?" More than a few of us (myself included) wouldn't mind going out this way, and even having a buddy on board who wouldn't let our passing end a good day of fishing.

Mehegan tells the story of Rev. Francis Browne, who went to his Lord after considering a fly change in Florida's Mosquito Lagoon: "'He was out fishing Thursday morning, his day off, and having already caught a couple near Mosquito Lagoon, asked Paul Arnold to hand him another fly, and a second later he keeled over, dead before he hit the bottom of the boat. Bingo. Over and out. Exeunt!'"

"Run away to sea and you're on your own for a good long while. Climb into a canoe and you can be back by teatime. The big danger on the banks of the Say was a dodgy estate agent. At sea, my grandfather was burnt to death in an onboard explosion long before I was born. Take me to the river." The U.K.'s Guardian publishes a Frank Cottrell Boyce story that touches on the history, imagination, and freedom attached to rivers. A fine Father's Day tale.

By the way "There Is Nothing In the Water" comes from the intriguing CaughtByTheRiver.net, an "angling and culture" Web site.

Are warranties leading to unnecessarily high prices for fly fishers and making it difficult for rodmakers to deliver the best product and service possible? Yesterday we received an open letter to fly rod makers from fly fishing writer and insurance attorney Zach Matthews, who believes that warranties on fly rods do little more than burden manufacturers and raise fly rod prices. His suggestion? Look to classic property insurance.

As Matthews says, "Insurance against loss instead of just breakage is nothing to shake a stick at; most people would immediately see why this is a good thing to have."

Connected to our entry on Sunday about the tenth anniversary of the death of young fly fisher Liam Wood, a family friend tells a story about the kind of person Wood was. Hint: he was the kind of young man anyone would have wanted to fish with.

"In November they went to the mouth of the creek and cast flies for salmon from the bank across from the crowded jetty. December saw them at the Samish River, fishing for salmon and sea run cutthroat trout. Spring was trout season, sometimes hiking in to Lost Lake on Chuckanut. Summer was always the mayfly hatch at Padden." Article by Dave Scoboria.

The Seattle Times also covered Woods's death and life by noting the involvement of author David James Duncan in the 2004 establishment of a school named in Woods's honor.

Most people I know who truly love fishing became obsessed with it after a nerve-shocking event that permanently tattooed the mystery of the sport on their psyches. My friend Steve Huff had it happen to him as a kid, being dragged across the macadam of a bridge in the Florida Keys at night. For me, it was being pulled into a muddy South Carolina pond by a catfish that was longer than my leg. For London Times fishing editor Brian Clarke, it was a giant pike: "Then the great fish turned, swam languorously towards the far bank, my little reel jammed, my rod was educated to the horizontal and the line broke with a sickening, low-key switch. I stood there staring after it uncomprehending, held for long moments in a kind of emotional death. It was a terrible moment then and it is terrible now."

"'The New Period' ... will be marked, I think, by greater simplicity of gear, technique, style and purpose. It will be done closer to home, more impromptu and with less media attention. It will be gentler, more elegant, and less aggressive." That's Gordon Wickstrom calling an end to the "TU Era" of over-technical perfection and announcing a return to greater simplicity in fly fishing culture, where fly shops return to being "refuges for what is most delightful in angling."

Interesting stuff, especially in light of what I sense as a growing movement away from "extreme fishing," "fish porn," and hip "bumism" in the sport. (Are you truly a trout bum if anyone knows you're a trout bum?) In the Boulder, Colorado Daily Camera.

Writer Matt Crawford asks whether, now that information is endless in supply, truly readable stories about the outdoors can hold their ground. "The long readable stories of the old timers -- Burton Spiller, let's say, on grouse hunting or even Peter H. Capstick more recently on big game, just don't seem have the juice or support to jump to the Internet. There are fewer places for that kind of writing in newspapers, too." In the Burlington Free Press.

Will we see U.S. journalists race north to enjoy new subsidies from the Canadian government aimed at supporting magazines? Doubtful, given the legal hurdles. But it does raise the question of whether U.S. fly fishing magazines, which have faced a crushing downturn in ad revenues, aren't in danger of having their audiences drawn away by government-funded competition.

Yesterday the Canadian Parliament publicly announced new funding to support The Canadian Fly Fisher magazine. A quick review of the records shows that the magazine received $40,000 in support in both 2006 - 2007 and 2007-2008.

No doubt U.S. publishers will be scratching their heads over this one. The Canadian Fly Fisher magazine has a very strong circulation already, with a Web site that ranks above most in the U.S. fly fishing marketplace. They are also the official publication of Fly Fishing Canada, the non-profit organization responsible for organizing the Canadian National Fly Fishing Championships. And they are sold in U.S. fly shops and have a significant international readership.

If, as many are saying, the future of a large portion of print periodical publishing is in the non-profit or even government-subsized model, are Canadians simply ahead of the times?

Jason Szep writes for Reuters about the sudden increase in recreational fishing noticed by tackle shops throughout the U.S. "Sports network ESPN added 44 percent more pages than planned to an insert in its 'Bassmaster Magazine' aimed at saltwater fishermen because of advertiser demand, the Walt Disney Co-owned network said last week, citing demand from suppliers of equipment and boats to bass enthusiasts." If ESPN is selling saltwater gear to bass anglers, perhaps the recession has put a stop to the worrying decline in fishing participation.

One of the best stories I've read on fly fishing in the past few months was just published by -- get this -- Teen Ink. It was written by teenager Breton S. (Teen Ink doesn't publish authors' last names) of Putney, Vermont. Breton's essay evokes the excitement and opportunity that fly fishing delivers, without pretense and with only a modicum of affectation. Read it and you might find yourself wondering, like I did, if a new generation of writers might pump life back into the literature.

"Sitting tall, beyond the vermilion reeds that scratched at my face, I could see the two bucktail wings against that dark, knotted alder branch reaching out of the water. I had feathered it in perfectly. It hovered in the current, dancing with its reflection."

Teen Ink, by the way, is one of the most popular journalistic platforms on the Web. It happens to also be entirely non-profit, driven by the enthusiasm of teachers for creative writing and art. "Distributed through classrooms by English teachers, Creative Writing teachers, Journalism teachers and art teachers around the country, Teen Ink magazine offers some of the most thoughtful and creative work generated by teens and has the largest distribution of any publication of its kind."

For Backcast author Lou Ureneck, the notion of having his new cabin ready for the beginning of trout season is reason enough to don the flannels and boots and head into the Maine winter with hammer in hand. "The light is bright and clear as a polished lens, the air is a tonic touched by the scent of balsam, and the snow, falling from the boughs of shaken fir trees, glitters like tiny crystals thrown in celebration. I love the way the snow, caught like a spinnaker in the wind, unlocks the colors of the white winter light, creating micro-bursts of red and blue." In The New York Times.

Read a chapter from Ureneck's latest book on MidCurrent.