The life blood of Rivers and Feathers flows from our pool of gifted writers. This talented group truly understands and appreciates the world of fly fishing.
While some of our scribes are well-known, others are just beginning to chronicle and photograph their experiences.
Here then are bios of our contributors. Perhaps, one day soon, we can add your name to this distinguished group.
Mike Watts
Mike Watts has been fly fishing chasing trout in the Carolina’s and beyond for over 46 years! This a blog with a lot of lies, tall tales, some truths and advice about fly-fishing. Mike earned his gray hair and wanted to teach the next generation how to relax, unwind and learn the fine art and poetry of fly-fishing.
This fly-fishing fanatic had a successful career in the environmental consulting services and transportation industry. He has retired to spend more time with his family; fly fishing, teaching others and sharing tips, wisdom and humorous stories, quotes, advice and just being outdoors. For the last 19 years, Mike also teaches fly-fishing as an adjunct professor at Clemson University and taught more than 1000 students how to fly fish and still teaching! Over the years he has traveled afar to fly fish in some of the most coveted spots in America.
This blog is meant for those who are beginning, or well adept at the art and poetry of fly- fishing. It’s not meant to be exhaustive, but to offer honest (as much as he can) reflections, advice, and tips on fly-fishing and various outdoor activities and just be entertaining. Our website is a place to just chill for ten minutes out of your day and unplug with humor, advice, tips, and guest articles about various aspects of fly fishing and other outdoor related adventures written by many well-known authors.
We are so glad you stopped our website. Please contact us to share your stories, thoughts, and reactions to the blog. We hope you enjoy the conversation, lies, tall tales and actual stories from Mike and the many other authors!
Larry Chesney
Along with serving as editor of Rivers & Feathers, Larry is also a copywriter for an ad agency, and contributing writer for several outdoor magazines. Born in South Carolina, Larry has hunted and fished from Alberta to Africa. He is also about to (finally) publish a book, “Palmetto Creek.”
If you’d like to pitch a story, or just say ‘hello,’ you can get in touch with Larry at larry@riversandfeathers.com.
Patrick Hunter
Patrick Hunter was born and raised in the Carolinas. He grew up in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains where he fell in love with hunting, fishing and the outdoors. While a student at Clemson University, Patrick took a fly-fishing leisure skill class, and began tying flies as a stress reliever from engineering school. The once hobby has now turned into a passion and obsession as Patrick has pursued all varieties of fresh and saltwater fish on fly, and still loves tying flies and creating new patterns. Patrick is an Environmental Engineer by trade, and works to conserve the wildlife and the wild places of the Carolinas. Patrick lives in Conway, South Carolina with his wife Katie and black lab “Huck Finn.”
Jim Mize
Jim Mize writes humor and nostalgia about his escapades chasing fish with a fly rod or occasionally waving a shotgun barrel at upland birds. He has had the good fortune to pursue fish in far flung places such as Scotland and New Zealand, as well as his small home streams in the Carolina mountains. His stories and books have been selected for over eighty Excellence in Craft awards, including the Pinnacle award from the Professional Outdoor Media Association. His books include The Winter of Our Discount Tent, A Creek Trickles Through It, Hunting With Beanpole, and Fishing With Beanpole. You can find his books on Amazon or purchase autographed copies at www.acreektricklesthroughit.com.
Michael Altizer
Author of three books and contributor to numerous others, Michael Altizer is Senior Editor at Sporting Classics Magazine and has been appearing in various major outdoor publications and media for nearly three decades.
His writing is not “How-To” in nature, but is instead more intimate and introspective, focusing on the inherent essence and virtue of the experiences themselves.
His subject matter encompasses big game (gun and archery), wingshooting, bird dogs, waterfowl—and of course Fly Fishing, both in freshwater and salt. From his home in eastern Tennessee, Altizer’s ventures have taken him from Alaska to Scandinavia, northern Canada to southern Patagonia, and across the United States.
Most importantly, he deeply appreciates his Readers, and is always available to them at Mike@AltizerJournal.com
Steve Ehrlich
I am a lifelong educator with 35 years of teaching, counseling, and leadership experience in adult learning, continuing education, and human resources, and an equally long-standing calling in fly fishing. Former dean at University College, the continuing education division of Washington University in St. Lois, I am retired and turning towards a next chapter of teaching, coaching, writing, and delivering presentations on stories and lessons from the stream for personal and professional development, renewal and healing, and social change. Teaching classes on the literature, history, and philosophy of fly fishing, my approach includes a blend of fly fishing literature, along with information from several fields of psychology, leadership and organizational studies, and contemporary culture. My educational credentials include a PhD in Higher Education from Boston College, EdS in Counselor Education from the University of Virginia, MAT in History and Teaching from Brown University, and a BA in American Studies from Amherst College.
John Kumiski
John Kumiski is an award winning free-lance writer, photographer, and author specializing in fly and light tackle saltwater and freshwater fishing, paddle sports, and camping. He’s been published in Fly Fisherman, Salt Water Sportsman, Shallow Water Angler, American Angler, Fly Tyer, and many more. His books include Redfish on the Fly, Thirteen Summers in Alaska, Fishing Florida by Paddle, and other similar titles.
John has been president of the Florida Outdoor Writer’s Association, the Indian River Guides Association, and the Backcountry Flyfishing Association. He was a science teacher, a long time ago. He served in the U.S. Army, in another lifetime.
Find John’s websites at http://www.spottedtail.com and http://wwwjohnkumiski.com. Find his blog at http://www.spottedtail.com/blog.
B.B. Sanders
Brandon is a freelance writer that enjoys hunting and fishing across the world. His writing is informed by academic preparedness and flavored with real-life experiences of many sorts. He grew up bass fishing in southern Arkansas before he left for the Army at age 18. Previously deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Poland, he is currently serving in the National Guard as a chaplain. Brand began fly fishing as a way to reconnect with the wild after an arduous deployment. He lives in east Texas in a small cabin with his wife and two dogs.
L. Woodrow Ross
L. Woodrow Ross lives in Taylors, SC, with his lovely wife Margaret. As a freelance writer and photographer, he has written more than 500 newspaper articles and contributes to outdoor magazines and online resources. In addition, he has 40 books on Amazon Kindle on various outdoor topics, covering outdoor skills, travel guides and fiction. He practices primitive and survival skills and enjoys most outdoor sports.
Articles and postings by Ross are available at https://lwoodrowross.wordpress.com. He may be contacted at lross3871@charter.net. He is available to speak at events or conduct primitive and survival skills seminars.
John R. Childress
Growing up on a farm near the Umpqua River in Central Oregon, I learned flyfishing from my father and brothers. Although I consider myself an intermediate fly angler in skill, my appetite for fly fishing is huge, having fished in Kamchatka, numerous Alaska river trips (unguided), Argentina, the Amazon, the Ponoi Peninsula in Russia, Iceland, England and Scotland, Belize, Los Roches, Bahamas, Florida and Africa. I believe valuable leadership skills can be learned from flyfishing and I am keen to share these learnings with others thirsty to improve their leadership and fishing skills.
Josh Lanier
Josh lives in the Upcountry of South Carolina, where he hikes and fly fishes the foothills of the southern Appalachians. The natural world is the centerpiece of his writing, whether it be poetry, fiction, or nonfiction. His blog about life in the Upcountry of South Carolina can be found at http://www.wildcatcreekjournal.com/.
Tom Keer
Tom Keer is an award-winning freelance writer who lives on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He owns the Keer Group, a marketing and public relations agency that focuses on fishing, hunting, boating and conservation businesses. Prior to forming his own agency, Keer ran the national and international wholesale division for the Orvis Company. Visit him at www.thekeergroup.com or at www.tomkeer.com.
John N. Felsher
John N. Felsher is a full-time professional freelance writer, photographer and broadcaster with more than 3,300 articles published in more than 160 different magazines, plus countless websites. To see his work, do an internet search for his name. Felsher began to write professionally at 16 years of age and served as the outdoors editor for four daily newspapers and a weekly. He’s also written syndicated newspaper columns in multiple states. John served 12 years as an Air Force officer. He currently hosts an outdoors tips show for WAVH FM Talk 106.5 radio in Mobile, AL. Contact him at j.felsher@hotmail.com or through Facebook.
Craig Springer
Craig Springer is a fisheries biologist and writer in New Mexico. His stories have appeared in Iron Worker, The Drake, The New York Times, Outdoor Life, ESPN Outdoors, TROUT, Quail Forever, and Farmers’ Almanac. See CraigSpringer.com
Jerry Kustich
After building graphite and cane rods at Winston Rods for twenty-two years, in 2006 Jerry Kustich teamed up with longtime friend, mentor, and renowned bamboo rod master Glenn Brackett to found Sweetgrass Rods in Twin Bridges, Montana. Kustich is a craftsman, writer, conservationist, speaker and dedicated itinerant angler. In addition to co-authoring the classic Fly Fishing for Great Lakes Steelhead with his brother Rick, he has written four acclaimed books of fly fishing stories which include his latest Holy Water. His articles have also appeared in several publications over the years. In 2013 he retired and moved from Montana to fish in Mexico for a year. Now living in Maryland on the upper Chesapeake Bay, Jerry continues to build rods for Sweetgrass while still looking for new water and living a fly fishing way of life.
Tom Adkinson
Nashvillian Tom Adkinson became a journalist because his journalist father told him not to follow in his footsteps “because the hours are bad and the pay is worse.” His father was right, so Adkinson paid his mortgage with a travel industry public relations job that let him wander (and fish) across the U.S. and once in a trout stream in New Zealand.
He has been fishing since he could ride a bicycle, sneaking away from home to fish for bream in a creek that flowed through a nearby golf course. Keeping a low profile to avoid aggravating golfers proved to be a valuable skill when he started trout fishing in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the 1970s. There, the low profile was to avoid spooking trout, not hiding from golfers. He particularly enjoys chasing Appalachian trout.
He likes wading small streams more than any other form of fishing, although he is more than proficient handling a canoe and a fly rod simultaneously on flat water. He is a member of a Tennessee fishing club that is almost 100 years old. He also is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers and author of “100 Things To Do in Nashville Before You Die.” His compilation of travel stories is at CornersOfTheCountry.com.
Chuck Hills
I have been fishing for a long time. It started with me and the old man, his L.L.Bean bamboo rod and a bear. I was 12, and the year was 1954. Since then I fished the fresh and salt from Alaska to Honduras, most of the Sierras, and half of Montana. Wolves, bears of all colors and species, a cougar, drug smugglers and a hurricane have been a part of all of it – from small Sierra creeks to dark water in the North to seamless, turquoise flats.
My fiction career began with a short story in the Stanford University literary magazine. Over the years other stories followed, appearing in angling publications, men’s journals, an equestrian magazine, and anthology of Northern California writers. The prologue to my novel, Killing Time in Paradise, was selected from eight hundred submissions, to win a Rupert Hughes fiction award at the Maui Writer’s Conference. It was my first work of long fiction. Since then, I have written a novella, a collection of short stories, and some screenplays. Currently, I’m at work on a novel of my generation.
On top of being a life-long fly fisherman, and a disciplined writer, I am also a dog’s best friend. I live in Kula, on the island of Maui in Hawaii.