Steven Smith… he was one of those fishing bloggers that was always tinkering behind the scenes. Be it with the appearance of his blog, or even something as bold as the blog’s name. He stood up blogs called The Eastern Fly, The Silent Pursuit, The Fly Fishing Bowhunter, and probably another two or three I don’t recall. You never quite knew what identity he’d pop up as next. But what you did know was that he was all about – family, friends, and fishing – with maybe a little coffee mixed in for good measure.
Speaking of friends, Steven was also living in Southeastern Pennsylvania, so we got to fish together in-person once, (maybe twice?), and he’s a really good guy to hang out with on the stream. Happy, always smiling, jolly even, he was into both fly fishing and tenkara, so we had a bunch to talk about. Then I up and moved to Florida…
It’s definitely been a while since last we chatted, so let’s catch up with Steven Smith…
Steven, what have you been up to over the last ten or so years?
The last 10 years have just flown by. In the past 10 years I have transitioned jobs not once, but twice going from a Young Adult Pastor at a church in the Philadelphia area to a coffee roaster at a shop in Altoona, PA, and now I am in higher education as a Digital Media Specialist for a college. My family has also grown in that time span. We went from being a family of three to a family of five. I would be lying if I said not much has happened.
Do you miss the fishing blogging community at all? Have you kept in touch with anyone from that bygone era?
Do I ever! I go back and forth almost weekly on if I should start a blog again for fun. I don’t know what it would be about, if it would be just a journal, highlight more photography, but I do actually think about it often. I feel like some of the older forms of media are starting to slowly make a comeback and I think blogs may have their day again.
Honestly, I have not really kept in touch with many of the people from the online fishing community from days gone by. A lot of that has to do with how busy I have been. When everyone stopped posting I just lost contact with them. I do sometimes find myself wondering what everyone is up to.
Are you still fishy? Do you still find time to fish? If so, how often, where, and for what?
Here is where the tissues come out. I have not picked up a fly rod in the last two years. My two older kids have something that I lack… natural, God-given athletic ability.
They both play soccer pretty competitively and year round. My daughter plays locally with a Hollidaysburg/Altoona club and my son plays with a club out of State College (50 minutes away). My wife and I find ourselves going to four to five practices a week in the fall and spring with two to three games on the weekends that could take us over two hours away… and that is just the league. When you add tournaments, winter indoor sessions, and summer camps that pretty much takes all my time.
I am not complaining though, soccer is my absolute favorite sport to watch and I love that my kids love it so much. They have dreams of college and beyond and my goal is to support them in any way that I can… even if that means sacrificing some fishing time for the next few years. I still have all my fly boxes, rods, reels, etc… I just don’t have the time currently.
I found most people wrote their blogs as a personal journaling exercise or a creative outlet. What’s your creative outlet today?
Luckily my job is a very creative job. I create all the videos for the college I work at and also help run their social media channels. It allows me to play around with camera gear and to have some freedom when it comes to ideas I have and content I want to see produced. Outside of that I have always been into photography and have been leaning into that a little bit more recently.
I’m interviewing you today. Is there anybody from outdoor blogging’s past you think I should track down and interview next?
Owl Jones. I don’t know why, but I remember he was someone I followed getting into tenkara way back in the day as well as really enjoying his Zazzy Poppers.
Is there anything you’d like to add that I didn’t ask you?
I was honestly thinking about the blogging days when you sent me a message for this project. I hope that someone reading this decides to start their old blogs back up, or start a new one. It is a form of media that I love, loved running and creating for, and something I hope I have the time to do again at some point.
Finally, assuming you’d want to be found, where can some of your old blog friends find you today?
You can find me on Instagram, Threads, X under @stvnleesmth. I am most active on Instagram and Threads, but sometimes venture into the twittersphere. I also have a little side account and YouTube channel that follows me along on my journey of running (I just ran my first marathon) that goes by the name @TheHuskyRunner that you can also check out.
Many thanks to Steven Smith for “Catching Up With…” us today.
Post Script: If you’re wondering why I’m interviewing these random people, or just what “Catching Up With…” is all about, visit this page for a brief backstory.
