published

Reporting On the U.S. Fly Fishing Industry for FlyLife Magazine

September 23, 2021 By Jess McGlothlin

When the editors of FlyLife Magazine, one of my favorite publications, reached out last spring and asked me to pen a feature about how American fly fishing has changed in the past year-and-a-half, it was both an exciting and challenging proposition. Write about American fly-fishing trends and industry news for an Australian / New Zealand audience, and make it relevant? Sure. Let’s do it.

And so I proceeded to spend a lot of time on the phone with folks I knew and trusted within the U.S. fly world. Leading off the charge? Linehan Outfitting Company, Kirk Deeter, and Wildwood Float Trips. These guys were kind enough to spend time on the phone during the busy spring months, talking about how they’ve managed through this strange time, what changes we’re seeing in regional and national demographics, the good and the bad of managing resources and overcrowding, and where our fly industry might be in the next five or so years. The team at FlyLife, as always, did a gorgeous layout, and I was thrilled to see images of some of my favorite people appear on the pages.

Thanks to all who contributed to this piece, be it in a phone call, an image taken over the years past, or a long, fireside conversation about the ethics and politics of our industry. (You know who you are.) And thanks to the team at FlyLife for sending the assignment my way.

Talking Photography, Fishing, and Travel With South Africa’s “The Mission” Magazine

April 29, 2021 By Jess McGlothlin

I had a great deal of fun chatting with Tudor Caradoc-Davies, the editor of South Africa’s “The Mission” Magazine, a few months ago. It was a cold, snowy morning in Missoula and I’d just gotten back in from swimming early morning laps. Tudor, on a warm South African evening, was preparing to go do the same after our conversation… outside, in the sun.

One of the most interesting ironies of the fly-fishing realm is that fishing, really, is a thread that connects people who otherwise would likely never have met. Tudor and I first met in a hotel bar at the IFTD Show, and now have reconnected several years later. It’s always a great pleasure to chat with another writer, and we had fun chatting thanks to the world wide web.

The article was just published, and huge thanks to Tudor and his team for making my mishmash of a life seem like an interesting tale. Give it a read here, starting on page 68, and enjoy a few pictures from around the globe to go along with the tale.

In other news, I’m currently sitting on the deck of the Delta Sky Club in the Salt Lake City Airport, on my way back to Belize to work as a fill-in Fishing Director at El Pescador Lodge for a few weeks. I’ll hopefully be sneaking in some photography and fishing time, so stay tuned on social media for updates!

onX Hunt Website Home Page Image

December 15, 2020 By Jess McGlothlin

Happy to see this image, shot on assignment for onX Hunt a few winters ago in Pennsylvania, show up on the company’s home page this week. We spent several cold mornings out in goose blinds tucked into farmer’s fields in rural Pennsylvania and New Jersey for this shoot, and it was a productive few days!

Tasmanian Stillwater Fly Fishing for FlyLife Magazine

December 13, 2020 By Jess McGlothlin

It’s always a massive pleasure to work with Australia’s FlyLife Magazine. It’s a bit ironic to be an American writing about Tasmanian fly fishing for an Australia / New Zealand audience, but the fantastic editorial team let me have some fun with this piece, written after an October 2019 visit to Tasmania to explore and document fly-fishing on the Australian island.

I fell hard in love with Tasmania—its people, scenery, food, and—of course—its fishing. Thanks to everyone who made this visit a productive (and fun!) working trip. I can’t wait to get back some day.

Subscribe to FlyLife to read all about it.

The Fly Fish Journal: Fly Fishing Japan

December 3, 2020 By Jess McGlothlin

“Despite the fact that North Korea had recently launched two missiles over the island and a typhoon was barreling our way, the daily tempo of life on Hokkaido appeared peaceful, almost bucolic.”

I penned a few words about fly-fishing Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido for The Fly Fish Journal. Read it in the latest issue, or online here.

Outside Bozeman: The High Life

August 5, 2020 By Jess McGlothlin

Outside Bozeman article and images by Jess McGlothlin about fly fishing the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness for Yellowstone cutthroat trout. Had a lot of fun delving through the image archives and old notebooks to write this short piece for Outside Bozeman‘s summer issue. Fly fishing the backcountry of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness a few summers ago, chasing Yellowstone cutthroat trout with Absaroka-Beartooth Outfitters, has been one of my favorite stateside fishing experiences. Combine days on horseback, a comfy backcountry camp in the perfect location, most excellent people, and stellar fishing for ambitious Yellowstone cutthroat trout, and you’ve got the recipe for something amazing.

Men’s Journal Van Tours: The $900 Pan-American GMC Safari

April 2, 2020 By Jess McGlothlin

Had no idea this Chile shoot in February with Zach Lazzari and Skylar Lamont would be the last travel for a while. Most of these assets are on hold for another client, but really excited to see this “Van Tours” feature run on Men’s Journal, talking about Zach and Shale’s epic adventure through the Americas, fishing along the way.

Zach and Shale are two of the coolest travelers I’ve had the pleasure to meet, and it was such a pleasure to be able to head down to Chile and join them for one of the final weeks of their epic trip. This pair accomplished a hell of a trip over the past couple years… give the article a read for the full story.

Here’s a quick excerpt:

With each road bump, dust puffs up to coat the van’s driver, Zach Lazzari, and his co-pilot, Shale. The 11-year-old dog serves as traveling companion, nighttime guard, curious conversationalist, and convenient icebreaker: She’s an impossibly fluffy red mutt whom Lazzari found a decade ago in a Montana animal shelter. There, in a building full of dogs needing homes, Shale was the only one who ignored Lazzari. He knew it was meant to be.

The pair have been living in Lazzari’s tattered GMC Safari van since September 2018, when his marketing automation job at a Missoula, Mont., tech company began to feel more soul-sucking, and less like a job he could tolerate. He decided it was time to revisit an old dream: take the long drive down to visit the rivers he’d grown to love since his last season working as a fly-fishing guide in Chilean Patagonia in 2016, with Shale as his traveling companion. Along the way, he’d explore new water and fish corners of the world far, far removed from most fly anglers’ purview.

Lazzari quit his job and bought the 1994 Safari, abandoned in a Missoula alley, for a grand total of $900. It took merely a month for a quick build-out of basic living quarters…

I very remember coming back to Santiago after a week pretty well removed from the world and standing, filthy and in need of a shower, in the airport and watching the news. It was the first week of March, and in the space of a few weeks the world had started a dramatic change. Now it’s the first week of April and this trip feels like a lifetime ago. I still have faith that sometime this year we’ll be traveling again, and I’m already looking forward to the next adventure with Zach, Shale, and Skylar.

Thanks for reading, folks.

Men’s Journal: Jackets, Rods, and Reels: Breaking Down Fly Fishing’s Best New Gear

March 3, 2020 By Jess McGlothlin

I had a lot of fun combing through the latest and greatest fly-fishing gear to write this piece for Men’s Journal. After spending many of my early years in fly-fishing and outdoor retail, gear that works is close to my heart. Give it a read, and then let me know what your favorite piece of fly-fishing gear is.

In other news, I’m just back from Chilean Patagonia after a weeklong shoot. It was amazing—met up with some good friends and camped for the week, fishing a variety of water. Most of the images are embargoed until clients have their pick, but you can check out the behind-the-scenes Instagram story here.