Aaron Reed's Blog

The events of the past 10 days, a firestorm ignited by the casually depraved murder of a Black man in Minneapolis, have been heartbreaking. The ugliness of that initial moment has spread and spread and spread, from city to city to the White House, where the president described our nation in terms more appropriate to an actual war zone and encouraged police officers to forcefully push peaceful protesters out of his path so he could pose in front of a church with a Bible in his hand.

The ugliness ...

A couple of weeks ago on a Thursday evening 130 of my favorite people gathered at Mesquite Creek Outfitters on the prettiest town square in Texas. Steven and Tommy and Hilton and Ann and Thad – people I shared my youth with in Rockport, were there. Cousins, and my folks, and my kids, were there. Friends from college, friends from work, friends from the fly fishing world too.

My good pal Jeff Troutman, host of Remote. No Pressure. played songs from his EP “Songs About Fly Fishing....

It has been a month since Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order limiting public and private gatherings to fewer than 10 persons, and more than two weeks since a stay at home order went into effect statewide. Just a couple of days ago Abbot announced a phased reopening of businesses across the state.

Arguments rage across social media bout whether its too early, or too late.

Travis and Williamson Counties, which together make up the bulk of the Austin metro area, issued orders...

The 35 free maps listed below were hand-built by Tom Herbertson, based on the driving directions provided by Aaron Reed in his book The Local Angler, Fly Fishing Austin & Central Texas published by Imbrifex Books in May 2020. All of the maps start in downtown Austin at the iconic bronze statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan at Auditorium Shores on Lady Bird Lake and provide the best driving routes to each of the 49 wades described by the author in the book. To make the maps more useful, Tom has...

With a little luck, most of us will be okay
Book signing events and presentations canceled
Its a perfect opportunity to do a little more fishing
How you can support local businesses and the fly fishing community

And I feel fine. I hope you do, too, and also that the old R.E.M. song is stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Youre welcome.

Turn and face the strange changes

If, like me, you are fortunate enough to have survived to a certain age, some of this may seem familiar. Whether...

When the guy who bit the head off a live bat and pissed on the Alamo canceled his appearance at SXSW because he was afraid of exposure to COVID-19, a collective “whoa!” went up.

“Ozzy’s scared?!” city and county officials, said, “Well damn, we better cancel the event.”

So, no South by Southwest this year, for the first time in 34 years. Pandemic or no, many locals (though not those who rely on the gig economy, or own bars or music venues) are secretly...

It went sideways when the dog lunged forward to lick the cat. Charlie ricocheted off the loveseat, bounded into the kitchen, and somehow wedged himself between the glass and the blinds at the top of the window. When Moose followed, the cat lost his purchase and fell into his water bowl, bounced onto the breakfast table, ponged to the top of the freezer and ended up frozen on top of the cabinets above the kitchen sink, back arched in a long, low growl.

I’m pretty sure Dogoberto Diego de la...

I have a book. Advance copies arrived just before Christmas, and for the first time I was able to hold the product of two years of work– 84,000 words and 384 pages – in my hands. It’s finally tangible. A chunk, even. It exceeds expectations, most ways.

The air-freighted carton arrived on my doorstep about the same time I rolled-in from a week on the boat. I poured a glass of Writers Tears Irish Whiskey, and dug in, savoring the moment. My wife was excited. My kids were excited. The wee,...

For a while now I’ve been touting the ECHO Base series as a solid first rod (and beyond) based on my good experiences with ECHO generally and some trusted reviews of the Base series specifically. A few months ago, it occurred to me that maybe I ought to check them out for myself.

The ECHO Base 3-weight comes in a 4-piece, 7-ft, 6-inch configuration, with a rod sock and a sturdy fabric-covered tube. The retail price is about $90 for the 3-weight.

I paired the rod with ECHO’s Base reel in size...

Texas is full of surprises. When I went off to college and met lots of people from other places for the first time in my life, I sometimes would—at the sound of a Busch Light beer can opening—happily launch into a soliloquy on Texas geography.

It’s not all like Dallas, that artificial city on the prairie, I would say. Texas has more than 90 mountains over a mile high*, a pine forest the size of New England, more inland waters than any state in the lower 48, and more than 3,000 miles of tidal coastline....