Trout Do Not Lie - a new anthology of Robert Traver Award stories coming in November 2026

What exactly is a fly-fishing story?

The easy answer is . . . a story about fly fishing, of course. But the best fly-fishing stories, as you will soon see, are really about something more than fishing.

To qualify for the Robert Traver Award, a story must involve fly fishing, or more precisely “the joy of fly fishing.” Among the winners, fly fishing is invariably central to the story. Just as important, to stand out and be recognized as a finalist, an honorable mention, or a winner, a story or essay needs something else. What exactly? That is impossible to say. There is no formula. But as you read these twenty stories in the forthcoming Trout Do Not Lie (November 2026, Stackpole Books), you will experience great writing and storytelling in many forms. When you see “it,” whatever it is, your most likely response will be “wow!”

Since the Traver Award began in 1994, the contenders have contained layers of storytelling, multiple threads of meaning, and often an unexpected twist or turn. They may be spiced with humor, leavened with emotion, enlightened by epiphany, or infused with grief or loss. All are pleasing to the ear. Success invariably requires creativity and craft. Big words and complex sentences are not required. Neither are technical equipment descriptions nor anglers’ jargon. “It” is more about the right words, the pacing and rhythm, convincing dialogue, and the subtle meaning between the words.

For six years, I’ve had the privilege of administering the award process, working with volunteer judges—men and women—who share their opinions about and reactions to dozens of entries. As you might expect, not all judges see the same things in each story or essay. That is why every entry is read (anonymously) by at least five judges or more. It is fascinating to compile the scoring and comments and to consider why some judges liked a story and others not so much.

In the first round, we trim the field of entries down to the top 20 to 25 percent of entries. A second round of five different judges then narrows that group of contenders down to usually five to eight finalists from which another group of four final judges chooses the winner by consensus. That means the winning story must impress as many as fifteen readers and writers to be named a Traver Award winner.

The stories in Trout Do Not Lie are the best of the best entries going back to 2008, when the award was still run by Fly Rod & Reel magazine. A first collection of Traver Award winners and some finalists from 1994 through 2007 titled In Hemingway’s Meadow was published in 2009 by Fly Rod & Reel Books. That collection is still available from Down East Books. The 2008 Traver Award winner, “The Shining Path” by Michael Doherty, was included in a second 2010 collection of stories previously published in Fly Rod & Reel titled Love Story of the Trout. We decided to include the 2008 winner again in this collection so that all the Traver Award winners from its inception until today are now available in two volumes.

Brook trout drawn by Jill Osgood

When Grace Voelker Wood suggested in May 2016 that I “visit Uncles,” also known to her father’s readers as Frenchman’s Pond, neither of us suspected where my journey would lead me. Her generous invitation followed my request for permission to reprint “Testament of a Fisherman” in my first book, The Confluence. A year later, I found myself at dinner in Marquette, Michigan, with Grace and her husband Woody at the home of Rich and Sue Vander Veen, where a spark was lit to find a new home for the Robert Traver Fly-Fishing Writing Award following the unfortunate demise of Fly Rod & Reel magazine, which had been administering the award since its inception in 1994. After hunting (fishing?) for options, we formed a productive partnership between the John D. Voelker Foundation (of which Rich is president) and the American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester, Vermont. By January 2019, the Traver Award was back in business after a two-year hiatus.

In the seven years (so far) that the Voelker Foundation and the museum have been jointly administering the award, we have cultivated a healthy community of writer-anglers who regularly express their appreciation for the opportunity to submit their writing. Some beginning writers are inspired to put their first tales (or “yarns” as John Voelker would say) down on paper. Other more experienced and accomplished writers are driven to land the big one—winner of this one-of-a-kind international award. From first-timers to finalists, we urge writers to revise, rewrite, and resubmit their stories, knowing that persistence and refinement pave the path to success.

We began this anthology with a foreword by Seth Norman, who won the Traver Award in 1998 with “Edith’s Rule.” He has been a judge for many years, including the last seven as one of four final judges. Traver winner and our co-editor Jody Martin then provides a brief history of the Traver Award with an abridged version of an article published in The American Fly Fisher. Thereafter, the stories are arranged chronologically, with gap years in 2017 and 2018 when the award had no home. The 2014 winner, “Prose to Poetry” by Jerry Hamza, is not included here because we could not secure copyright permission. We feature four honored stories written by women, one from Canada and another from the United Kingdom, to recognize that we see more contenders every year from female writers and from writers outside the United States. And, finally in the afterword, we give the esteemed Nick Lyons the last word about the Traver Award, which he founded.

I hesitate to call the Traver Award a competition or even a contest. Instead, I think of it as honoring outstanding writing, recognizing that all entries are excellent in their own right. The Robert Traver Award is about storytelling, so we simply ask people to tell their stories the best way they know how.

We titled this collection Trout Do Not Lie to honor John Voelker’s timeless declaration in “Testament of a Fisherman.” And while reading the impressive work here you might say also that, despite the reputation of anglers for stretching the truth, stories do not lie, even fictional stories. Indeed, together these stories reveal the deepest truths about life and fly fishing.

As Henry David Thoreau did not say, fly fishing isn’t just about fishing. Fishing is about much more than that. These remarkable stories tell you exactly what that is. Enjoy!

Professor fly drawn by Jill Osgood

David Van Wie has administered the Traver Award since 2019. He is author of Storied Waters: 35 Fabled Fly-Fishing Destinations and the Writers & Artists Who Made Them Famous (Stackpole Books, 2019) and lead author of The Confluence: A Collection of Essays, Art & Tall Tales about Fly Fishing and Friendship (Peter E. Randall Publisher, 2016). He teaches at the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies at Dartmouth College.