Flyfishing teaches us to expect the unexpected. And while we can prepare for lost flies, broken rods and all manner of mishaps, goof ups and failures, nothing could have prepared writer Matt Stansberry for what he encountered in his story, “Hemingway Never Did This.” While floating the upper portion of Oregon’s McKenzie River on a June morning, Stansberry captured—by accident—the most significant Bigfoot footage of the 21st century. Yes. Bigfoot. YouTube fame, reality TV and Sasquatch mania followed. For his part, Stansberry even managed to hook a few trout that day.

Silicon Valley, May 2012: I host a technology conference as part of my day job, a 2,000-person event with 100 speakers. I’m onstage all day, wearing a new suit, acting like I know what the hell I’m talking about. When I step offstage to drown my nerves in Scotch, this goofy-looking guy locks eyes, cuts through the crowd and I already know what he’s going to say.

“You were on ‘Finding Bigfoot’! My cousin is one of the Tennessee Wraith Chasers. You gotta look them up on YouTube. They’re shopping their pilot for a show.”

This kind of thing happens a lot.

I flash back to the night I met the production crew from Animal Planet at an event called “Bigfoot and Beer” at Ike’s pizza shop on the McKenzie River in Oregon. A local newspaper reporter was there, and he asked me, “Are you worried at all about how this Bigfoot stuff might affect your career?”

Nah…

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