DEEP CREEK COMMUNION

A JOURNEY INTO THE TROUT WATERS OF THE SMOKIES FOLLOWS THE TRAIL OF THE LATE, GREAT HARRY MIDDLETON, ONE OF FLY FISHING’S MOST INTRIGUING VOICES

by ERIK REECE

ESSAY I WOULD HAZARD TO SAY THERE AREN’T MANY world-class writers who spent their last days hanging off the back of a garbage truck, smelling of “piss and green mayonnaise.” Harry Middleton did. And Middleton, who wrote principally about his life among mountain streams, was a world-class writer. Because he has been nearly forgotten, I want to say that right up front. I first heard of Harry Middleton from my cousin Tye. Our fathers were brothers, but only my uncle Jerry was a fisherman. He and Tye actually named one of their cats after a famous fly, the Rat Faced McDougall. Uncle Jerry tried to teach me and Tye fly fishing on a Rocky Mountain stream when we were eight. When one of my backcasts set its hook in my…

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Garden & Gun (Digital) - 1 Issue, June/July 2024

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