All Stories | Page 17 of 28 | The Filson Journal

Q+A With Fly Designer Brita Fordice

Atop Brita Fordice’s desk lays a bag of eyeballs. Next to the eyeballs are a variety of feathers – some that look real, some that are real, and some that look like they might have been picked up on the floor of a costume closet. Next to the feathers are resins to hold things together and tools to pull things apart. It looks a bit like a kindergarten art class, save for the cauterizer.

6 Min

Ed's art of fish and mountain scenes in his journals

Profiles

In Print: Making Art with Ed Anderson

Ed Anderson is an Idaho-based artist known for his iconic scenes using bold colors and lines to present subjects from bush pilots to bull trout and bugling bull elk. We sat down with Ed to learn more about how he got into art, developed his style, and what has influenced him along his journey.

5 Min

Field Notes

With The Flow: WA Winter Steelheading

When you picture father and son fishing trips in a metal row boat, you might picture a pristine lake with a bobber and worms, goofy hats with oversized boots and dozing off in the warm sun. For my dad and I, we picture something different entirely. Basalt boulders the size of Volkswagens, yesterday clearly exposed, are now lurking millimeters beneath the surface. On days like this, there’s about a 5% margin for navigation error as you’re flying through white water, oars digging hard, unable to change trajectory more than a few crucial inches. It sounds reckless (maybe it is), but the payoff is worth every risk.

3 Min

How-To's

How to Fillet a Fish

Whether you fish your local river, the lake the next state over, or the ocean on the other side of the world, knowing how to properly filet your catch is an important step in becoming a fisherman. We commissioned artist Heather Hardison to draw a basic tutorial outlining the few key steps to take your catch

1 Min

Profiles

Seven Star Marine: Newport, Rhode Island’s Source for Marine Engineering

I had the great good fortune of growing up on the waterfront in my father’s marine business. It was an immersive, hands-on experience that captured my imagination from the start. What more could a boy want than to be surrounded by boats, engines, and an endless stream of fascinating characters? Dad and his partner started

barge with trucking containers seen through porthole of another ship

Profiles

Trade Stories: Three Generations In the Wheelhouse of a Tugboat

The blue-and-yellow tugs of Western Towboat are fixtures in the Seattle area. But harbor work on the West Coast is only a fraction of the company’s business. Its biggest job is freighting more than a billion pounds of goods each year to Alaska. By Will Grant The lifeline for Southeast Alaska begins in the Lower

10 Min

portrait of corey on fishing boat in filson hat and orange overalls

Profiles

Corey Forrest: Fishing Rhode Island

As a little girl, I didn’t know I was going to grow up to be a fisherman, or follow in my father’s footsteps, and his father’s footsteps. It was a man’s world at the dock of Sakonnet Point, no women working in sight. The faces of fishing, as I recall, were a blue-collar gang of

7 Min

salmon gravlax with dill fronds and brown rye bread

Food & Recipes

Filson Food: Whiskey Cured Salmon Gravlax

Making cured fish is incredibly simple, but requires intentional time to prepare. Gravlax, a preparation of preserving salmon from the cold coast of Scandinavia, is cured in salt and sugar for just a few days. This recipe has been adapted from my grandpa’s handwritten notes, a treasure shared in my family. Gravlax celebrates the fish with

3 Min

portrait of Matthew in black coat and yellow flannel

Profiles

In Print: Matthew Nienow and Good Story Paddleboards

I reeked of the sea and had nothing to show for it. Darkling saltwater for a dream and no other place to be (29-31) Excerpt from “In the Year of No Work” by Matthew Nienow To enter into Matthew Nienow’s workshop is to walk back in time. Wood shavings lie coiled in heaps on the

How-To's

How to Open an Oyster without a Shucking Knife

While a shucking knife is always recommended to open oysters, it’s not the only way. If a fresh bivalve opportunity presents itself while you’re without a shucking knife, you might try to break in using one of these alternative methods.

2 Min

pickled salmon, carrots and red onions on cutting board

Food & Recipes

Filson Food: Pickled Wild Salmon

Pickled salmon is a tradition that runs deep in Alaska, preserving the summer’s harvest to last through the cold winter. Wild salmon is a healthy protein and pickled fish makes for a filling bite anytime of day. A staple in the fridge of many PNW chef’s and boat captains.

4 Min

salmon filet with herbs and citrus and salt on cutting board

Food & Recipes

Filson Food: Campfire Grilled Citrus Salmon

During the summer salmon season, I work with my partner Michael onboard a small commercial fishing boat in Southcentral Alaska. Tuned into the tides, weather, and ocean currents that pull the fish back to the rivers, we chase the harvest of abundant wild salmon swimming through Alaska’s cold, clean water. The daylight lasts forever and when there is a moment with a break from fishing, you’ll find us with the boat pulled up on some beach starting a fire with driftwood, a slab of fresh salmon on hand. As the fish slows cooks over the coals, fingers burn sampling bites of the brilliant red fillet. The fish flakes apart and melts on your tongue with a salty, smoky flavor.

Profiles

In Print: Patrick Manary

Patrick Manary is an Oregon native, lanky, with piercing blue eyes and a wild beard. Thoughtful and soft-spoken, he holds himself with the steady confidence that brutal outdoor work can impart. For the past few years he has moved seasonally, splitting his time between Bristol Bay, Alaska and Tillamook Bay, Oregon. He works in Oregon

5 Min

portrait, eric jackson with red flannel and big brown beard

Profiles

In Print: Eric Jackson’s Snow, Surf and Steelhead

Eric Jackson is always ready for a challenge. You may recognize him from the massive hucks in his latest snowboarding film, Alignment. Or perhaps you’ve seen photos of him fly-fishing some of the most pristine rivers in the world as a sponsored fisherman. Either way, “envy” might describe how you feel about it his life.

5 Min

Fender guitar and amplifier with filson cover on amplifier

Profiles

Filson + Fender: Chris Stapleton Brings Two of His Favorite Brands Together

Filson NYC’s marketing manager, Joey Holman, recounts the beginning of Filson’s relationship with country artist and songwriter, Chris Stapleton. “Joey, it’s Clay. I’m gonna be in Seattle on Wednesday and was wondering what you’re up to after work. I’m working with an artist named Chris Stapleton and we’re doing a show at the Showbox.” “Hey dude!

10 Min

claire portrait in black raincoat with orange hat

Profiles

In Print: Claire Jenck’s Road to the Ocean

Winter brings the best northwest waves. When friends find out I surf in Washington, they are usually incredulous. “No, what? In winter? But it’s so cold” they say. I should try to persuade them otherwise. I should tell them how wild the peninsula is, how uncrowded and pristine, about how last year I surfed with

5 Min

Keya portrait in white wool hooded jacket falling snow

Profiles

In Print: Keya Clairmont

Earlier this winter, we traveled to the snowcovered Canadian Rockies to develop our latest print catalog. We invited fancy shawl dancer, Keya Clairmont, to join. The 24 year old is grounded in the mountains, yet spends a lot of her time in the air; fancy shawl is an energetic style of dance full of jumps

4 Min

Field Notes

A Day of Celebration: History of the Chittenden Locks

Started on September 1, 1911 and completed in 1916, the Hiram Chittenden Locks, alternatively called Seattle’s “Big Ditch,” or “Ballard Locks,” as they are commonly referred to today, helped make possible a new era in maritime commerce and shipping business for Salmon Bay, Lake Washington and all points in between.

5 Min

jessie with horses drinking from river in grassy field with pine trees

Profiles

Jessie Allen: More Than Miss Wyoming

“Jessie manages her family’s guest ranch and outfitting business in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. She guides pack trips for fly fishermen, rock climbers, backpackers, yogis and big game hunters, both archery and rifle. At 9,200 feet with no electricity, cell service or internet, the Diamond 4 Ranch is Wyoming’s highest elevation guest ranch.

8 Min

Profiles

Duck Band: Friendship, Music, and Hunting

Friendships tend to be tribal in their origins – shared interests, hobbies, and lifestyles attract and keep folks together. For this group of friends, their love of music and duck hunting are the ties that bind. “Would you have any interest in going on a duck hunt in Louisiana with us?” That seems like an

5 Min

boat running upriver in limestone canyon toward snowcapped mountain

Profiles

A Day on the Hell’s Canyon Mail Boat

“The U.S. Postal Service will deliver mail to anywhere in the United States with a mailing address,” says Jill Koch, part owner and operator of Beamers Hells Canyon Tours. Jill and her husband Jim hold the mail delivery contract for what may be one of the most remote mail routes in the lower 48. Once

6 Min

john working at his desk in log cabin with antler chandelier

Profiles

John Finley: Wyoming’s Cowboy Artist

The Wind River Range rises from the river itself, fall shifting into winter as my truck reaches the outskirts of the town of Dubois. I slow at the town museum, looking at the life-sized bronze cowboy sculpture, one of many of John Finley’s fixtures in town. I stop for a coffee at the Perch, a

6 Min

archival photo of seattle mountain rescue descending a mountain carrying an injured person

Field Notes

70 Years of Seattle Mountain Rescue

Imagine for a moment you’re miles deep into your favorite backcountry and you’re unable to get out. It’s 1936. You’re using gear that today sits in vintage displays– leather boots, knickers, wooden ice axes. You don’t have a cell phone or locator beacon. There’s no SOS button, no 911. Back then, there was Ome Daiber.

8 Min

Profiles

Horse-Logging Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom

When Neil Fromm was twenty-five years old he drove his Volkswagen van from the Florida Keys up to Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. Known to Vermonters simply as “The Kingdom,” this mountainous, sparsely populated area is situated between the Connecticut River and the Green Mountains. That’s when Fromm got into horses.

5 Min

fly fisher casts into lake with pine trees and low lying clouds

Profiles

Cooper River Trail

Some of us like hiking and some of us like fishing; a lot of us like both. The Cooper River Trail is the perfect trail for those who like both. Just outside of Cle Elum, WA, the Cooper River Trail is just that, a trail that follows along the Cooper River.

1 Min

people hiking toward waterfall on forest path

Profiles

Franklin Falls Trail

Looking for a quick hike before work or an afternoon trek through the forest, Franklin Falls is a great option for those based in the Seattle area. This short two-mile trail has numerous features for its brief length.

1 Min

two people hiking up the side of a glacier

Profiles

Heliotrope Ridge Trail

The Heliotrope Ridge trail is a roughly 6 mile roundtrip trail that features a trek through an old growth forest, several creek crossings, and an up close and personal look at the Coleman Glacier.

1 Min

lindsay fishing with her dog on the river

Profiles

Crossing Community Lines

When it comes to the outdoors, Lindsey Elliott does it all- climbing, mountain biking, hunting, fly fishing, raising chickens, growing food, practicing citizen science, and running a business, Wylder Goods. Because she has perspective from multiple and oftentimes separate communities, we asked Lindsey to share her thoughts from the cross-section. Photos and words by Lindsey

6 Min

running water cascades through rocky river waterfall in green mossy old growth forest

Profiles

Celebrating the Rivers of America

When I need to brighten my day, I go to the river. I walk along the shore or sit for awhile at the water’s edge and listen to the swish, or the babble, or the exciting bubbly rush of flow. Always moving when the rest of the landscape is still, the river holds me rapt, and

Field Notes

After Wildfire

A bike-pack fishing trip through a scorched landscape was not the trip that Ashlee thought she was going to take – but the things she saw and the experience she had left an impression about how we interact with the landscape after wildfire. “Lucky for you, all the goat’s head burned too,” someone said, smiling,

5 Min

Q+A With Fly Designer Brita Fordice

In Print: Making Art with Ed Anderson

With The Flow: WA Winter Steelheading

How to Fillet a Fish

Seven Star Marine: Newport, Rhode Island’s Source for Marine Engineering

Trade Stories: Three Generations In the Wheelhouse of a Tugboat

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Corey Forrest: Fishing Rhode Island

Filson Food: Whiskey Cured Salmon Gravlax

In Print: Matthew Nienow and Good Story Paddleboards

How to Open an Oyster without a Shucking Knife

Filson Food: Pickled Wild Salmon

Filson Food: Campfire Grilled Citrus Salmon

In Print: Patrick Manary

In Print: Eric Jackson’s Snow, Surf and Steelhead

Filson + Fender: Chris Stapleton Brings Two of His Favorite Brands Together

In Print: Claire Jenck’s Road to the Ocean

In Print: Keya Clairmont

A Day of Celebration: History of the Chittenden Locks

Jessie Allen: More Than Miss Wyoming

Duck Band: Friendship, Music, and Hunting

A Day on the Hell’s Canyon Mail Boat

John Finley: Wyoming’s Cowboy Artist

70 Years of Seattle Mountain Rescue

Horse-Logging Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom

Cooper River Trail

Franklin Falls Trail

Heliotrope Ridge Trail

Crossing Community Lines

Celebrating the Rivers of America

After Wildfire