Tailing Loops: Twenty Years of Flipped Boats, Punted Fish, Misfits and Semi-luminaries

Scrolling through a folder of old film scans, commercial client outtakes, happy snaps and favorite editorial photo shoots over the last 20 years, I realized I had some pretty amusing stories and memories of these images.

I thought it would be fun to go back and ask the subjects what they remembered about the shots.   

Where are they now? What were their memories? Are they still running skiffs or rowing rivers?

The following is just that: a collection of fishing related imagery and stories that speaks to the soul of the sport, and hopefully brings a little levity to what can sometimes be an overly serious activity.

We fish because it’s fun and every now and then, it moves us.

• Interrupted by the Man. Will Rice and I fished Denver’s South Platte (the DSP) a lot in those days for tailing carp. Knowing the DNC was coming to town, a stones-throw from our prime fishing flats, I pitched my editor at Field & Stream about fishing during the big political convention. The idea was to push the authority figures on fishing public water, while being asked not to. I never told Will the plan…

Tim is a Flylab co-founder, one of the principals behind Angling Trade and the former photo editor of The Flyfish Journal. He also is a long-time contributor to Field & Stream and has been a photographer for the last two decades. His work is part of the permanent collections at Lake Forest College, Photo Americas Portland, Instituto de Artes de Medellin, Colombia and the University of Colorado, Boulder.