An older white man wearing a hat and fishing vest sits and writes in a notebook using a green pen.

The 2024 Traver Award Winners

The John D. Voelker Foundation and the American Museum of Fly Fishing (AMFF)…


Two black men prepare to use a long branch and a rock to jack up a van with a flat tire. There is a boat with a ruined bottom strapped to the top of the vehicle. A third black man stands nearby, his arms outstretched as if in encouragement.

Last Salad on the Gairezi

by George Rogers Gilles McLean* smokes Chelseas. He buys his cigarettes at the…


An older white man wearing a hat and fishing vest sits and writes in a notebook using a green pen.

How to Say Gila

by Joseph Jackson In the last gasp of darkness, we see elk. Big steaming ghosts…


An older white man wearing a hat and fishing vest sits and writes in a notebook using a green pen.

Blind Willie’s Pool

by Chris Bishop My best friend at school was even keener on fly fishing than I…


Middle-Seat Meditations

by Matt Powell Photograph by Chris Vaage and artistically interpreted…


The 2023 Traver Award Winners

The John D. Voelker Foundation and the American Museum of Fly Fishing (AMFF)…


The Cerulean Trout

by Jacob Sotak Jerry parked his red Toyota truck up beneath the large,…


Fixer-Upper

by Tom Walters It is late morning of a mid-autumn day, and as Brian navigates…


Handwritten pages from John Voelker. They're written in green marker on lined yellow paper, with edits added in red marker.

Recipients of the Traver Award

1994 Pete Fromm, “Home Before Dark” Finalists: Scott Waldie, “Take Two”…


The 2022 Traver Award Winners

The John D. Voelker Foundation and the American Museum of Fly Fishing (AMFF)…