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Picket Thill Field NotesA field journal for fly fishers and hunters

Field notes from the riverbank

Read the water before you step in it

Picket Thill Field Notes is a working journal for fly fishers and hunters: how seasons are actually built, what licenses and gear cost, how currents and temperatures put fish where you find them, and how to release what you catch so it lives.

2026 Season · Fly Fishing · Seasons · Licenses · Gear · Water · Ethics

01-06The six reaches of the journal

Six stretches of the same river, from the first knot to the release and the bank you leave behind.

  1. Angler in a felt hat working a short dry fly cast across a clear river run at first light with mist still on the water

    01

    Fly Fishing Basics

    Knots, hatches and the habits a good instructor teaches first, written for the angler who would rather fix the drift than blame the fly.

  2. Laminated hunting season calendar spread on a tailgate beside binoculars, a paper map folded to a wildlife management unit and a thermos

    02

    Hunting Seasons

    The season calendar is the map of the whole fall. Learn to read its zones, windows and draw deadlines before you plan around it.

  3. Fishing and hunting licenses kept flat in a clear plastic wallet beside a river gauge and a set of car keys on a dashboard

    03

    Licenses & Regulations

    One rule runs this reach: the license money funds the resource. Buy early, carry proof, and check the endorsements before you launch or load.

  4. Fly vest laid open on a wooden bench showing fly boxes, spooled tippet, nippers and forceps arranged beside a pair of laced wading boots

    04

    Gear Checklists

    Lists you can run in the parking lot, with typical price bands attached so the budget decides before the marketing does.

  5. Clear river surface showing a sharp seam between fast riffle water and a slow dark pool beneath overhanging alder branches

    05

    Reading Water

    The water tells you where the fish are long before the first cast. These pages teach the sentences it keeps repeating.

  6. Trout held just under the surface in a rubber net with wet hands about to let it swim free back into river current

    06

    Ethics & Conservation

    The resource is the whole point. Release fish well, treat access like the privilege it is, and the season keeps paying for itself.

LOGThe journal

Every field note we publish, dated, from the reaches of the river.

  1. A wooden church pew in late morning light, an open hymnal resting on the seat with a printed service bulletin tucked inside, shot from a low side angle so the aisle stretches out of focus behind it.

    · Ethics & Conservation

    Grace, liturgy and hymns: a Lutheran primer

    A plain guide to Lutheran teaching on grace and faith, the shape of a Sunday service, and why hymns carry so much of the worship hour.

  2. A photographer's light table at dusk, with a loupe, a stack of 4x6 proof prints, and a marked-up contact sheet under a warm desk lamp, shot from a low three-quarter angle.

    · Fly Fishing Basics

    Claire Schneider: Editorial Photo Portfolio

    A look at Claire Schneider's editorial and documentary photography portfolio, from agency briefs to consent, licensing, and metadata.

  3. A weathered wooden workbench in a garage corner, a half-finished ceramic bowl beside a sharpening stone, late afternoon light through a single window falling across a paper log sheet.

    · Reading Water

    Workshop Habits for a Bay Home

    A field guide to small workshop habits for bay homes: clay, wood, light, and the records that keep a craft honest across seasons.

  4. A late afternoon workbench in a Vermont barn workshop, a brass shelf clock movement laid open on a felt mat beside a loupe, a small oil bottle, and a paper repair tag, with low window light raking across the brass.

    · Gear Checklists

    Antique clocks: dating, buying, restoring

    A field guide to antique clocks: how to start a collection, date a movement, and judge what restoration involves before you buy or repair.

  5. A coiled brass Fürst-Pless hunting horn resting on a weathered wooden bench beside a folded green loden coat, photographed in soft overcast morning light with the horn filling the left third of the frame.

    · Hunting Seasons

    Hunting Horn Signals and Field Craft

    A field guide to hunting horn signals, the November Hubertus mass, and how hunting horn traditions cross the Atlantic for American hunters.

  6. A quarter sheet of cotton watercolor paper taped to a tilted board on a wooden table, one horizontal blue wash still glossy, a loaded round brush resting on a ceramic palette beside it, soft north light from a window.

    · Fly Fishing Basics

    Watercolor washes: flat, graded, and glazed

    How to lay a flat or graded watercolor wash without streaks, build depth with glazing, and fix muddy color, hard edges, and blooms.

  7. A carved turnip lantern and a carved pumpkin sitting side by side on a weathered wooden porch step at dusk, a single candle glowing inside each, shot from a low angle with the house wall soft in the background.

    · Hunting Seasons

    Samhain to Halloween: How the Night Was Built

    A field note on the origins of Halloween: what Samhain was, how the date moved, and why pumpkins replaced turnips in the carving tradition.

  8. A golf ball resting against a wooden stake marking a red penalty area beside a reed-lined pond, photographed in low morning light from a low angle with the fairway blurred behind.

    · Licenses & Regulations

    Lost Ball, Unplayable Ball, Penalty Areas

    Stroke and distance, unplayable ball options, and the difference between yellow and red penalty areas, explained for amateur golfers.

  9. A golf stand bag resting on a wooden bench beside a clubhouse door at dawn, with a pair of soft-spike shoes and a folded rain jacket on the bench, shot from a low three-quarter angle in soft side light.

    · Gear Checklists

    Golf gear by layer and by season

    A field notes guide to building a golf bag by layer, surface, and weather, with notes on shoes, bags, rain gear, and club competition days.

  10. A parent and a young child stand waist-deep in a bright indoor pool, the child's hands resting on a floating noodle, soft window light from the left, shot from the pool deck at eye level.

    · Reading Water

    Teaching a Child to Swim: A Calm Start

    A calm, pressure-free approach to teaching a child to swim, plus how front crawl and breaststroke differ and how lessons work in Fife.

  11. A retriever sitting steady at the line on a mowed grass field at first light, a handler standing behind with a shotgun broken open, decoys and a pond visible in the background, shot from a low side angle.

    · Hunting Seasons

    Retriever Clubs and Field Trials in the US

    How retriever clubs, AKC field trials, and hunt tests fit together, what newcomers should expect, and how to prepare a dog for its first season.

  12. Open state hunting regulation booklet with a paper calendar beside it, a pencil marking a window and a folded unit map on a kitchen table

    · Hunting Seasons

    How to read a hunting season calendar

    Every state publishes its seasons as a framework, not a list of dates: zones inside units, weapon windows inside seasons, draws and permits on their own clocks. Learn the framework once and any state calendar turns readable in an evening.

  13. Rainbow trout held horizontally over a rubber net in the river with wet hands hovering just above the surface ready to release

    · Ethics & Conservation

    Catch and release practices that fish survive

    Released is not the same as survived. The gap between the two is a short list of habits: barbless points, wet hands, a real net, ten seconds of air or less, and a revival that ends on the fish’s terms. Each habit has a reason attached.

  14. Close view of weathered fingers tying an improved clinch knot in fine tippet with a small dry fly held against soft morning light

    · Fly Fishing Basics

    Fly fishing knots that hold when it matters

    Every lost fish story has a short suspect list, and the knot is on it more often than the tippet or the truth. Four knots cover an entire season; the craft is in tying them wet, seating them fully, and retieing them without being asked.

  15. Three fly rods assembled in a row on a garage floor beside reels, fly lines in boxes and a pair of broken in wading boots

    · Gear Checklists

    Fly fishing gear by budget tier

    Fly fishing gear pricing is marketing with a rod rack attached. Three tiers cover the whole decision: a starter kit, a solid mid setup, and the level where money buys refinement instead of fish. The bands below are typical retail, checked against what actually lands on the water.

  16. Folded fishing license tucked into a clear chest pack sleeve above a river landing with a net handle and wet gravel below

    · Licenses & Regulations

    What a fishing license costs, and why

    There is no national fishing license price because there is no national fishing license. Fifty states sell their own, price their own and spend the money on their own water. Here is how the bands run, what the tiers mean, and why the fee is the cheapest line in the trip budget.

  17. Overhead view of a boulder breaking river current into a V shaped seam with calm pocket water holding behind the rock

    · Reading Water

    Reading river currents: seams, riffles and pools

    A river is a delivery system: current carries food, and fish hold where the groceries arrive with the least swimming. Learn five features and one rule of energy, and every new river arrives pre annotated.

  18. Mayfly dun resting on a fly line coiled across a fishing journal page beside an open fly box of dry patterns

    · Fly Fishing Basics

    Match the hatch: a first field guide

    Trout key on size and silhouette before they argue about color. Matching the hatch is observation with a short shopping list, and it starts with knowing which of four insect groups is on the water.

  19. Hunter photographing a trail camera card beside an oak ridge at dusk with a notebook open to a month grid and fresh tracks in the dirt

    · Hunting Seasons

    A deer season preparation timeline that works

    The hunters who fill tags in November started in the spring, and not because they work harder. They run a timeline. This one runs twelve months out to the post season, one block per season, nothing in it that a weekend cannot carry.

  20. Angler leaning on a wading staff mid river with a wading belt cinched over chest waders in green water pushing past at thigh depth

    · Gear Checklists

    A wading safety checklist for moving water

    Moving water is the strongest thing in this sport and it does not negotiate. The rules are old and they all come from the same physics: water at knee depth pushes harder than you think, and cold water ends arguments in minutes. Run the checklist before every trip.

  21. Hunting license and tag booklet laid on a tailgate next to a duck stamp, a folded unit map and a pair of binoculars at gray dawn

    · Licenses & Regulations

    Hunter education, licenses, tags and stamps

    A legal hunt is a stack of four papers in the right order: education card, license, tags and stamps. Each layer exists for a reason, each has its own clock, and the stack is easier to buy than to explain at a checkpoint.

  22. Stream thermometer reading cool river temperature held above a slow pool beside a wet notebook with pencil notes on the bank

    · Reading Water

    Water temperature and trout: what to expect

    A trout is a thermometer with fins. The same fish at 38 degrees and at 66 degrees behaves like two different animals, and a ten dollar stream thermometer explains more refusals than any fly pattern ever has.

  23. Instructor standing beside a new angler on a gravel bar demonstrating a short line mend with the current folding around both sets of waders

    · Fly Fishing Basics

    What a fly fishing guide actually teaches

    A good guided or instructed day is sold as water access, but what it really sells is sequence: which skill to fix first, and the habits that keep improving after the day ends. Those habits are written down here.

  24. Two anglers talking quietly on a public bridge pullout with rods rigged, one pointing upstream while cattle graze the far bank beyond a fence

    · Ethics & Conservation

    River access and etiquette: sharing the water

    Access is the resource behind the resource, and it runs on customs more than laws. Where you may stand, how close is too close, who moves on a shared run, and how to not carry invaders in your wading felt: the unwritten rules, written down.

  25. Young hunter walking a hedgerow at the edge of a cut field with a well used small gauge shotgun broken open over one arm

    · Hunting Seasons

    Small game seasons: the honest way to start hunting

    Every experienced hunter has a small game season in their past, and most will defend it as the best education the sport offers. The windows are long, the gear is cheap, and every skill it teaches transfers upward.

  26. Blaze orange vest and cap hung on a fence post beside brush pants, lace up boots, a shell bag and a water bowl for a hunting dog

    · Gear Checklists

    An upland hunting gear checklist

    Upland gear is a walking kit with safety rules written into it. Blaze orange to the state’s letter, boots that survive the third mile, and a vest that carries shells, water and birds. The checklist below runs in a parking lot, with typical price bands attached.

  27. Calm mountain lake at morning with long wind lanes streaking the surface and a float tube angler casting near a dark weed line

    · Reading Water

    Reading stillwater: lakes and ponds without current

    A lake hides its current the way a river shows it, but the conveyor belt still runs, just slower and in circles. Inlets feed, drop offs funnel, wind lanes concentrate, and the shore you choose matters more than the fly.

  1. Open state hunting regulation booklet with a paper calendar beside it, a pencil marking a window and a folded unit map on a kitchen table

    The signature page: how to read a hunting season calendar

    The page every other note leans on: zones inside units, weapon windows inside seasons, typical frames by game, and the pre opener checklist that keeps a fall legal.

    Reach 02 · Hunting Seasons

Picket Thill Field Notes is written the way a good journal should be: seasons framed, prices banded, safety first and no secret spots sold. The desk keeps its method on the about page, the hunting season calendar anchors every date on the site, and every release claim runs through the catch and release best practices page.

KEEPThe waterline index

These field notes are kept here because they are reread, maintained and useful whenever a new season or river asks the same practical question.

  1. Overhead view of a boulder breaking river current into a V shaped seam with calm pocket water holding behind the rock

    · Reading Water

    Reading river currents: seams, riffles and pools

    Five visible river features turn a first look at unfamiliar water into a plan for where to start the drift.

  2. Mayfly dun resting on a fly line coiled across a fishing journal page beside an open fly box of dry patterns

    · Fly Fishing Basics

    Match the hatch: a first field guide

    A compact field guide to size, silhouette and the insect groups that make trout move before color becomes important.

  3. Hunter photographing a trail camera card beside an oak ridge at dusk with a notebook open to a month grid and fresh tracks in the dirt

    · Hunting Seasons

    A deer season preparation timeline that works

    A twelve month preparation line keeps scouting, practice and paperwork in the right order before the opener arrives.

  4. Angler leaning on a wading staff mid river with a wading belt cinched over chest waders in green water pushing past at thigh depth

    · Gear Checklists

    A wading safety checklist for moving water

    Run this moving water check beside the truck, where cold, current and footing deserve attention before the first step.

  5. Two anglers talking quietly on a public bridge pullout with rods rigged, one pointing upstream while cattle graze the far bank beyond a fence

    · Ethics & Conservation

    River access and etiquette: sharing the water

    The shared water customs that protect public access, give other anglers room and keep a good bank open for the next trip.

RIVERTwo useful river notebooks

For readers who want to carry river reading into a specific water and a prepared fly fishing day.

McCloud and Upper Sacramento rivers apply seams, riffles and pools to two named rivers after the reader learns to spot those features in moving water.

Mountain State field notes continue the same practical work through fly fishing reports, where observing water and preparing a session belong to one task.

For readers who want to study animal photography as a documented craft, Licht und Lauf covers dogs in motion, horses at a distance, and the sorting and printing work that follows the shutter.

For readers sorting out kangaroo and wallaby differences, the Bush and Feather guide covers South Coast New South Wales wildlife identification, animal park visits, and rescue safety, with tracks, scat, calls, and habitat notes for coastal species.

For readers who want the rules behind working dog competition, British working dog trials break down spaniel and pointer field trial scoring, sheepdog outrun vocabulary, and a first canicross season, all explained for beginners at the edge of the field.

For readers who want to understand how Cape Cod Bay works before booking anything, rock harbor tides navigable window coverage at The Billingsgate Journal explains the tide, the sandbars, and the season in plain editorial terms.

For handlers who want to know what a first herding instinct test actually involves, this guide to herding instinct tests walks through preparation, reading dog and stock behavior, and what comes after certification.

For anglers who work wooden plugs in moving surf, The Plug Ledger gathers field notes on poppers, darters, and needlefish, plus water reading and bench tuning of lip, lead, and hooks.