It was a warm July day and where Lauren sat on the riverbank the long-bladed grass rose up to her shoulders. In her lap she held his old wicker creel, its top open, and inside an ancient Pflueger reel, a well-worn, oiled leather fly wallet, and beside them, taking most of the space, a dull …...

It’s in a long, leather-trimmed, canvas case, worn, musty and historic, an article that speaks of honest experience. Too delicate to be referred to as gear and too refined to be called tackle, this is my father’s ancient L.L. Bean bamboo flyrod, which he lovingly called ‘the pole.’ Zipped inside the case, along with the …...