Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/433799
S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S 1 8 0 cast. When Belushi did, he actually hit a bonefish on the head, but it still slashed the fly. Then Belushi took a half step back, tried to set the hook, and without thinking, went right off the boat into the water. "I surfaced like a sea monster, but I still had that bone hooked," Belushi says. "So I reeled as I walked around the boat and pulled in the fish. It was just like that scene in A River Runs Through It, except I'm not Brad Pitt, and he didn't have an iPhone in his pocket—without a Ziploc." In addition to our adventures in the field, Belushi and I collaborated on a DIY Network show that follows the actor-turned- angler as he builds his dream fishing lodge. On Oregon's Rogue River, Belushi owns 13 acres, including 1,800 feet of shorefront. The property once operated as an Elks Club campground and still has an enormous barbecue pit, horseshoes, and 20 picnic tables to prove it. But no house. Belushi and his wife are now building a beautiful, rustic lodge from reclaimed wood—the beams of longleaf pine date to 1867 and come from a Chicago factory not far from Wrigley Field. "The property will have a small, comfortable two-bedroom house and an attached suite for me," says Belushi. "Okay, well it's really for my wife." H unting Montana. Fishing the Bahamas. Building a lodge in Oregon. That would keep most people busy enough. But not Jim Belushi. Since wrapping his TV series According to Jim in 2009, he hasn't stopped. He just finished shooting three movies: Change of Heart with Virginia Matson and directed by Kenny Ortega; Man on Carrion Road with Ian McShane and Patrick Wilson; and The Whole Truth with Renée Zellweger and Keanu Reeves. Soon Belushi will start production for a new HBO series called Show Me a Hero, directed by Paul Haggis and written by David Simon. It's no surprise that Belushi calls TV and film his "work work." His "fun work" is performing with his Memphis-style blues band, The Sacred Hearts; raising roofs with Dan Akroyd as The Blues Brothers; and busting guts with his improvisational-comedy troop, The Board of Comedy. Though success seems to follow Belushi, he's got a burr under his saddle (or perhaps a stone in his urinary tract) about that bull elk that got away. "Basically, I'm pissed off," he jokes. "I've had this low-level anger all year, and I trace it to missing out on that elk." Something tells me he'll get his hands on the trophy soon. When he does, you can bet I'll have a crew there capturing every unpredictable moment.