The Bon Iver Boys Bob for Bass and Bluegill at the Harlem Meer

By Adam Iscoe

The musician S. Carey, whose first name is Sean, and who is a drummer for the band Bon Iver, goes fly-fishing whenever he has the chance. Largemouth bass in Half Moon Lake with his kids, near their home, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Cutthroat trout while on tour in Montana. He recently started organizing his solo-tour schedule around fly-fishing: a trout trip to a secret stretch of river in the Catskills ("Some places you have to be a bit closed-lips about") was followed by a concert in Brooklyn, and then by an afternoon angling for bluegill and bass in Central Park, with two of his bandmates, Zach Hanson and Ben Lester. "I’m not, like, driven by success or fame," Carey said. "I’d rather go fishing."

Snapping turtles stretched out along the banks of the Harlem Meer, which is stocked with bass, crappie, and catfish. "Urban fishing is a whole different thing," Carey said, walking by a little boy. "You’ve got to be careful not to hook anyone!" Nearby, James Brown blasted from a boom box on an electric scooter, and a local fisherman, dressed in a green tracksuit, caught a six-inch largemouth bass.

Carey wore a hoodie, green Crocs, and polarized sunglasses, and carried a Patagonia tackle bag packed with flies, snacks, and a Lawrence Ferlinghetti book. "Fishing gets you out of your own head," he said. "Hours can pass, and you’re, like, ‘I don't know what time it is.’ " He held a fly rod under his left arm as he tied a fluffy orange-and-gold homemade Woolly Bugger onto the line. "I’m terrible at knots, actually," he said, twisting the filament ten times.

"You do ten, huh? I, like, max out at six, maybe!" Lester said. He had on camo Crocs and a canvas fly vest. Carey threw out a cast, which landed near a partially submerged orange construction cone. Lester caught a six-inch bluegill. "I grew up spin-casting," Carey said. "It was my dad's favorite hobby." Fifteen years ago, in college, in Eau Claire, Lester taught Carey to fly-fish. "By the end of that summer, I was addicted," Carey said.

A few years later, Justin Vernon, Bon Iver's front man, uploaded his début album, "For Emma, Forever Ago," to MySpace. He had recorded the LP at a cabin in Wisconsin. Carey said, "I took it upon myself to learn all the songs really, really well. At his first show, at this coffee shop with eighty people, I just told him, ‘Hey, man, do you want me to play drums and sing? I can do it.’ And he was just blown away by it." Two hours before Bon Iver's first show, Carey became the second member of the band. The group's next album won a Grammy.

In 2009, Carey started recording his own first record in the spare moments between touring and fishing trips. He released his most recent album, "Break Me Open," last year, on Earth Day. "It's about loss and change and grief," he said. In 2021, Carey's marriage fell apart; his dad died a few months later. "It was tough and dark, and the music was a huge way out," he said.

Around five o’clock, a stranger in a wide-brimmed hat and Birkenstocks shouted, "There's a big white carp in the corner over there!" He added, "This is my home water. I live across the street." He grinned. "I’m not fishing today, but this is my home water, man." A huge fish swam toward the shore. Hanson cast at it, and the carp darted away.

The stranger suggested another spot: "Go through the woods. There's, like, a crick that runs through, and you follow the crick up over to the West Side, and there's a pond on that side, too." In Central Park, the woods are called the Ravine, the crick is known as the Loch, and the pond is the Pool.

The Pool was a bust, so Carey wandered to a billion-gallon lake he’d heard about, the Reservoir. "I thought it’d be funny to walk around with all these fly vests and fishing gear," he said, "but nobody's batted an eye."

A man rode past on a double-decker custom-made bicycle. A gaggle of birders aimed expensive lenses up into a tree. Someone on a park bench smoked a blunt, and a group of friends debated superpowers.

"What's the ultimate superpower, man?"

"Super strength!"

"Flying!"

"A lot of them are unique, that's all I’m gonna say. But the best one?"

"Wings."

"Levitating!"

At the Reservoir, Carey peered over an iron fence. "I like the water clarity," he said. But there was no access. He’d caught only one fish all day.

"Let's eat something!" Lester said.

They located a Mister Softee truck out on Fifth Avenue. Lester and Hanson ordered vanilla cones, and Carey got an Oreo Crunchie Crash. "I suppose if you’re gonna live in a city, you know, it's a pretty good one," he said. ♦