Our fathers have endured many early mornings and painstaking days teaching us how to cast a fly rod, fell a tree, and to safely handle an over-and-under; and we couldn’t be more grateful. With Father’s Day right around the corner, it feels fitting to return the favor and share stories of appreciation for the men who introduced many of us to the great outdoors. Today, photographer Adam Baz –a true friend of Filson– documents a fly fishing trip in Oregon with his father for Filson Life.
It’s funny, for as long as I can remember I have resisted my father’s influence. And yet he, more than almost anyone I’ve ever known, has shaped the person I’ve become. As a teenager I formed a set of values and interests that I thought were antithetical to his. I played punk music when he played the blues, spiked my hair when he combed his back, and slept in late when he arose early to go fishing.
Yet one by one I became drawn to the things that he knew best, and turned to him for guidance. Whether it was restoring a vintage motorcycle like the one he rode 40 years before, clinging to his old film cameras in a digital age, or a passion for bird watching inspired by the hawks he showed me as a kid, I found myself following in his footsteps–rummaging through his old stuff and reclaiming his forgotten gems. And now, two weeks before Father’s Day, he traveled to Oregon to share with me his lifelong passion: fly-fishing. It is a burgeoning interest of mine, and a legacy of my father’s that I intend to honor with each cast of the fly for years to come.
Adam Baz is a bird biologist, photographer, and outdoorsman based in Portland, OR. His fieldwork studying bird populations takes him throughout the mountains of the west. Douglas Baz is a professional photographer and fly-fishing guide living in upstate New York. His passion for fly-fishing has taken him around the world.
