Description

Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers. For the first time, two of John Gierach s most popular fishing books are collected in one volume–a double dose of delight for longtime fans or first-time visitors to Gierach country. As Gierach astutely observes in Dances with Trout, Fly-fishing is solitary, contemplative, misanthropic, scientific in some hands, poetic in others, and laced with conflicting aesthetic considerations. It s not even clear if catching fish is actually the point. This observation might also describe Gierach s writing–catching fish might be the subject, but most of the fun and (mis)adventure comes well before that point. Whether it s fishing close to home waters (Colorado) or farther afield (Alaska, Scotland, Texas); ice-fishing, tournament fishing, or night fishing; fishing for trout, salmon, carp, splake, or grayling; fishing with familiar companions like A.K. Best or the enigmatic Zen master among fishing guides ; no detail of the fishing life is too insignificant or too absurd for Gierach. As he writes in Another Lousy Day in Paradise, The real truth about fly-fishing is, it is beautiful beyond description in almost every way, and when a certain kind of person is confronted with a certain kind of beauty, they are either saved or ruined for life, or a little bit of both. So start reading and be saved–or ruined–by Gierach s wonderful insights into the world around us.