Steve Ramirez's Blog, page 4

Hope To See You There!

I will be doing a "meet and greet book signing" event at the New Barnes & Noble in Selma, Texas, this Sunday, June 23rd, between 2 and 4 pm.

If you're in the area I hope you will stop by... especially because these kinds of events are where I stand at a table by a stack on my books as if it were a kid's lemonade stand...

hoping a few neighbors will stop by to chat and even perhaps pick up a book and have me sign it. ha ha...

Even if you already have one or more of my books and simply want to come by to say hello, bring them with you, and have me sign them, that's fine too.

I enjoy having this time to meet and chat with those of you who are reading my books, or who might decide to get one as a gift for a friend. Most of all, just stop by and say hello if you're in the area. You are the reason I write.

Just a Note... Casting Homeward which is the final book in the four book series will be released on September 3rd, so there will be no copies of this title yet available except via pre-order. I will be doing a Casting Homeward book signing event in September at the Barnes & Noble at La Cantera, San Antonio, Texas ... so my local friends can complete the set! Let's get our photos together with "my children!"  

Writers Need Readers!

And I Appreciate You - Each and Every One!

The New Barnes & Noble is located at:

Barnes & Noble-The Forum at Olympia Parkway

8262 Agora Parkway

Selma, TX 78154

830-251-2434

I hope to see you there!

Tarpon and Snook Adventure!

Come on a Tarpon and Snook Adventure with me and my buddy David Blinken in the wonderful wilderness of Campeche, Mexico's mangrove forests and bay.

The trip is scheduled for August 2nd through 7th... and if it happens it will be a part of my next book - but here's the deal y'all... David and I have only a few days to gather three more anglers or this hosted trip will be cancelled and the outfitter will fill the spots with his regular clients. If this happens, it's not the end of the world, but is also will be a shame.

I really want this trip to happen and won't surrender until I find a way to make it there as part of my next book and an a potential article for Fly Fisherman magazine. If you can make it, let me know, and you too can be part of our adventure!

if you or anyone you know might be interested, PM me and we shall see if we can put a trip together.

To my mind, this is a fairly inexpensive adventure for most anglers and a wonderful opportunity to experience a truly unique place... arguably the largest tarpon nursery in the world. We will also get to experience the culture, music, and food on Campeche... a historical vestige or Spanish colonial rule that is surrounded by Mayan temples and communities. Like any great

Just Sharing... Why I'll Never Be "That Guy."

Recently I've seen an uptick in the usual macho posts from wannabe warriors and armchair commandos who blabber about war as if it were some noble cause... but in the end, there is nothing noble about killing each other, when we could just come together and work things out.

Anyone who has seen violent death, as I have, knows that in the end nobody is very tough - their just dead... and its a waste.

Testosterone and machismo has caused a lot of suffering and waste as does blindly following any fixed ideology.

The universe doesn't care about anyone's ideology.

We're all in this together.

Even as an angler, I'm not the least bit macho.

I don't care about being "out fished."

That only matters if I have to fish for food and for survival and then, let me tell you, I won't be using a #16 Adams.

I don't believe in turning life and living into a competition.

I want it to be a conversation.

I want to build connections.

I want to fish with people who cheer for each other and help each other, and also, cheer for the fish.

I want to enjoy the sound of the river, the wind in the trees, and then birds singing their melodies of love and hope.

And, I don't want or need every bit of gear that's known to man or woman... just what it takes to get me on the water connected to fish, and friends, and feelings of gratitude.

I'm going to tell you a few things about me - not because I matter or because I think anything I've done is "impressive" ... but because it will make a point.

I was a member of one of the most "elite" units in the U.S. Marine Corps during my time. I carried a weapon and came face to face with evil many time over 35 years... and nothing about it was glorious.

I've done many things and undergone many adventures.

I've ridden bulls on the rodeo circuit, dived deep beneath the ocean's surface both day and night through sunken ships and underwater caves, I've hunted across North America and Africa, and I've trekked across four continents from Africa's Kilimanjaro to Peru's Salkantay, to Scotland's Carrighorm Mountain where so many people have frozen to death in the past.

And I'm still going...so far, so good.

But absolutely nothing I've chosen to do was intended to be "macho."

In fact, everything I do supports my sense of humility and impermanence.

Everything I do and experience reminds me of how fleeting and insignificant my life is - except what I can do to help this world - even a little.

I don't value a fishing trip by the size or number of fish caught as much as the richness of the connection I felt with Nature and the Best of Human Nature.

Please don’t get me wrong… I love catching fish but even moreso, I love finding my Tribe.

And by pushing myself out of my comfort zone, again and again, I'm not trying to "prove" anything to anyone - I'm trying to keep learning about life and living and gratitude and giving.

So the next time you see a "macho man" gripping and grimacing over a huge gasping fish, a lifeless but wide antlered deer, or tricked out semi-automatic rifle in an attempt at glorifying the act of killing or as if it was an extension of his masculinity... have a good laugh as I do because laughter is good for the soul...

... but also, feel a little sad because that sadness is a recognition of how far we have to go as a species and how beautiful this world could be if we had the wisdom and the courage to go there.

I must confess... I will never be,

or want to be -

that guy.

And,

I'm fine with that...

Bold Yet Humble Love is the Bravest Thing I Know...

Be Brave Y'all...

Hope to See You There!

Life's Not a Dress Rehearsal

“Living has little to do with biology and much to do with the ghost within this machine we call “us.” So many people are the walking dead. But now as the sunrise comes to my beloved Texas Hill Country home, my mind lives in the here and now, and also in the then and there. Every now becomes a memory—in an instant. Life is beautiful and dreams do come true. We simply must hold in our hearts and minds the image of what matters most—and keep casting homeward. We must all choose to live many lives—now.”

~ Steve Ramirez, Casting Homeward: An Angler and Naturalist’s Journey to America’s Legendary Rivers

This morning over coffee in a half-wake semi-dream state I began to count my blessing as is my habit, and I began to marvel at the many lives I have lived within this single life and the many adventures I’ve experienced and hopefully have yet to experience. And whenever I demonstrate what an Imperfect Texan Buddha I am by attaching myself to a desire, I have to relearn and old lesson to let go and let life flow. This doesn’t mean I don’t paddle… I do… but I accept whatever some may call “God’ and I might call “The Universe” desires me to do and be in this moment and time – whatever time may be.

This year I am in transition once again, as I am always, in that I will be introducing the world to my youngest “child” Casting Homeward, while I do my best to enter into another passionate relationship with life that might lead to yet another literary sibling. To that effect I intend to journey to Portugal, Campeche, Mexico, and Argentina and I will be keeping my eyes open for an opportunity to include somewhere in Central America or the Caribbean. As a starving artist I must be creative if I am going to make this happen – I have already sold most of my belongings of any value in order to pay for past travels, the closets are getting bare – as I wanted them to be as I work hard to live a minimalist lifestyle.

“Things are a weight around our necks that benefit only the sellers of things; being free of things is freedom itself.” I wish to be free to lock up my how whenever the mood hits me and leave for part known and unknown. I wish to be free to live many lives – now. How about you?

Life is not a dress rehearsal y’all… this is it. People wonder how it is that I have climbed mountains from Italy to Scotland to Montana to Peru and have explored beneath the seas of the Caribbean and Mediterranean, and walked the streets of Rome, Edinburgh, Cape Town, and Cusco, and hunted kudu in Namibia and pronghorn in Colorado, and cast my fly line from Alaska to Montauk to the Turks and Caicos Islands, and… well… it’s because I don’t care about things. These same people see nothing wrong with SPENDING 60k on a car – not counting interest on the loan while they see it as crazy if I INVEST 6k on an adventure that will only appreciate in time and in which I will never lose interest.

I don’t care about things unless that are tools that help me to experience Life. I care about Living. I care about moments and memories. I care about meaning. I care about relationships and shared experiences. That’s how I do it. I just do. How about you?

Life’s not a dress rehearsal y’all… This is it.

Keep Casting Homeward Y’all…

Join Me in Argentina with my buddy Bob White in December!

If you’ve ever wanted to fish Argentina in the upper Patagonia region, this might be the time!

A Message from Bob White about the San Huberto Lodge on the Malleo River:

“I first traveled to Argentina in 1985. For nearly 40 years I’ve fished, guided, and hosted groups of fly fishermen at a myriad of locations in Patagonia.

The Olsen family’s lodge, San Huberto, remains one of our favorites. Every year Lisa and I depart, believing that the experience couldn’t possibly be better… and yet, the next season always reveals new improvements.

The Olsen family and their staff are uncompromising in their pursuit of excellence and continue to refine and improve every aspect of what they offer. The food, the accommodations, the fishing program, and the incredibly high level of service at San Huberto have to be experienced to be believed.

The lodge accommodates just 12 fishermen that, within the boundaries of the ranch, have access to 22 miles of the Malleo River, a beautiful free stone spring creek, and a remote high mountain lake. Additionally, when conditions are favorable, there is the opportunity to float a remote section of one of the area’s larger rivers.”

When: December 1 – December 8, 2024

Hosted by Bob White with author Steve Ramirez

“Steve Ramirez is an award-winning and bestselling author who lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country. Steve’s first book, Casting Forward, was featured in the film Mending the Line.

His second and third books, Casting Onward and Casting Seaward, have received critical acclaim as important works of outdoor adventure and conservation literature.

Casting Homeward is the fourth installment in the Lyons Press Casting series, which has quickly become a uniquely poignant and meaningful body of work in the realm of nature-oriented literature.

Steve currently writes the Seasonable Angler column for Fly Fisherman magazine and serves as the ambassador for Texas for the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

You can look forward to Steve discussing his craft and reading from his work on several evenings over the course of the week.”

For more information go to bobwhitestudio.com

Fly Fisherman Magazine's Seasonable Angler!

It is always such a pleasure and honor to be a small part of the Fly Fisherman magazine team.

If you don’t already subscribe… why not?

The subscriptions are inexpensive and this magazine packs so much into each edition including Destinations, Skill Based articles on everything from casting to presentation to fly tying, environmental impact and protection stories, and much more.

And I will admit… I hope you enjoy my column in every issue- The Seasonable Angler.

This issue…. Travel with me across Alaska’s Bristol Bay Region to a remote wilderness lake.

I Thought you Might Like This! It's a Quick Peek of the Table of Contents for Casting Homeward!

One of the things I always hope to create is a Table of Contents that anyone in a bookstore can look at and immediately decided that they want to go to these place and on these adventures with me!

I hope this one does that for you and your friends.

My heart and soul goes into every page...

Contents

Foreword

Prologue

Chapter 1: First Cast—Guadalupe River, Texas Hill Country

Part I Bristol Bay, Alaska

Chapter 2: Life and Death on the Agulowak River, Alaska

Chapter 3: Upnuk Lake by Floatplane, Alaska

Chapter 4: Floating on Alaska’s Ungalithaluk River

Chapter 5: Floating on Alaska’s Good News River

Chapter 6: Alaska Epilogue: Return to the Agulowak

Part II Montana’s Paradise Valley and Beyond

Chapter 7: Wading DePuy Spring Creek, Montana

Chapter 8: Floating the Big Hole, Madison, and Missouri

Rivers, Montana

Part III Grand Teton & Yellowstone Country – Wyoming

Chapter 9: Wading the Firehole River, Yellowstone

National Park, Wyoming

Chapter 10: Walking and Wading Teton and Yellowstone

Country

Chapter 11: Floating the Snake River, Grand Teton and

Yellowstone Country

Part IV: Classic Waters in the Commonwealth— Pennsylvania Spring Creeks

Chapter 12: Wading the Upper Little Juniata

Chapter 13: Wading Upper Penns Creek

Chapter 14: Floating Lower Penns Creek

Part V: Birthplace of American Fly Fishing—The Catskills

and Northeastern Forest

Chapter 15: Floating the Delaware, New York

Chapter 16: Wading the Esopus, New York

Chapter 17: Wading the Farmington, Connecticut

Chapter 18: Wading the Battenkill, Vermont

Part VI Casting Homeward - The Foothills of the Ozarks & The Heart of Texas

Chapter 19: Smallmouth Bass Fishing, Eastern Oklahoma

Chapter 20: Floating the Llano River, Texas Hill Country

Chapter 21: Just One More Cast—Devils River,

Texas Hill Country

Epilogue

Go There!

“Yeah, leading an examined life, I always say, is a pain in the ass…”

~ Yvon Chouinard

One of the benefits of leading a well examined live is that it causes me to live in the moment while doing my best to forward toward that inevitable plunge with as much grace and fortitude as possible.

Those of you who know me, know that I’m weird.

I think is poetry and metaphor.

So life really is like a journey down a river that eventually plunges over a precipice into the sea.

The currents that we call “time” and “entropy” carry me ever onward, and all I can do is paddle forward and back and use my metaphorical paddle as a rudder called “Choice and Perspective” to carve out a journey worth taking - and therefore a life worth living.

And sometimes when I have no idea which braid in the river is the right one to choose, I let the current that is the “universe” or what many people call “God” take me wherever I am meant to be.

The Lyons Press “Casting Series” has come full circle with the pending publication of “Casting Homeward: An Angler and Naturalist’s Journey to America’s Legendary Rivers.”

Of course, if you’ve read my past three books, you know that although they are full of fishing and other nature-based adventures, they are not about fishing or adventure other than what it means to be “fishing for wisdom” and “adventuring toward living our best life.”

Fly fishing, rivers, and Nature itself are the perfect poetic metaphors and teachers of living well.

This beautiful planet is the “Eden” we’ve been given; and we’re all too busy trying to turn heave into hell.

This is “The Good Place.”

I’m going to be honest – I always am... I want as many households as possible to contain copies of this entire series.

I adore the look of the hard cover books, but if paperback fits your nature - Go There!

I believe that these books have meaning and purpose beyond mere entertainment – although I want you to be entertained.

I want you to travel with me and sit by the fire with me and stand in the river with me and even feeling longing with me.

I want us to Travel Together in our mutual effort to Live Lives Worth Living.

And I guess it’s good that they are not “free.” After all, we must all find ways to invest in our own journey.

Casting Homeward is available for preorder via major booksellers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, as well as some independent booksellers.

And if to want a signed copy, (signed by me as the author and my dear friend Bob White as the illustrator…) you can go to bobwhitestudios.com and preorder now.

Bob and Lisa have singed copies of all four books in hardcover – and Casting Forward is only available in hardcover on demand, but they have it in inventory.

There is value in preordering a book like Casting Homeward.

When Casting Forward first came out in the autumn of so long ago, my publisher and I had a wonderful problem – it sold out in weeks and there weren’t any copies left for many people who wanted them for the holidays. I’m not sure that this will be the case again… although I hope a lot of people are reading it by the fire this winter. After all, I wrote it … for you.

Namaste’ Y’all…

~ Steve

Don’t Ever Allow the Music in Your Heart and Soul to grow silent…

When I was a boy, living often alone with my dad who was raising me as a single parent while simultaneously having to work most of the time of each waking day… I had two connections that helped me to survive… if not thrive.

The first forever friend, was and is my connection to nature. I wandered the woodlands and waters of my southern homeland and made friends with songbirds, green snakes, rising fish and tall trees. I did and still do speak to Nature and Nature speaks to me. Without my connection to Nature, I would cease to have any reason to keep breathing.

Secondly, when my mother walked out on us when I was 12… (I’ve often thought this was the only kind act she ever inadvertently did…), my poor broken hearted father knew that I’d have to be alone a lot of the time, so he gave me a guitar and taught me three chords- G, C, and F.

Then he said, “This guitar and the music you play will always be your friend.”

He was right.

Music has been my other forever friend.

When my father died I shed a few tears… picked up my guitar and played the song that I considered to be “our song”… “The Captain and the Kid” by Jimmy Buffet. Then I put down my guitar, wiped my tears, and never played guitar or shed another tear for three years.

I’m starting to play again.

Things are going back to my childhood ways in this final childhood chapter of my current mortal life.

I’m conversing with songbirds and lizards more often. I’m complimenting wildflowers and wispy clouds in the Texas skies. I’d rather sit on a stone and watch a river flow than any show that’s “streaming.”

And I am playing and listening to the Blues because it makes me feel happy.

Never let the music go silent in your Soul.

Namaste’ Y’all

The Being Currently Known as Steve