"True Love and the Woolly Bugger is a thoroughly amusing, manic, and perversely informative book about fishing in several of its most mutant forms." -Tom McGuane

"Dave Ames's book . . . is good-natured fun, filled with insight, a passion for what honest fly fishing really is. He has a sharp eye for quirky nuance that makes simple language dance a wild step."

-John Holt, author of Knee Deep in Montana's Trout Streams

"True Love and the Woolly Bugger is adventurous and funny, and yet also poignant. In short, it's not just a fishing book, but very much like life itself, and well worth reading, even by folks who have never made a cast." -John Barsness, editor of Gray's Sporting Journal and Montana Time

When is "sex, death, and fly fishing" not about the life cycle of an insect? When you read True Love and the Woolly Bugger, which views fly fishing and life through a different lens. In these tales trout, tarpon, and bonefish are skillfully interwoven with all the things-funny, happy, and sad-that happen to Dave Ames's completely unforgettable characters: a laid-back Bahamian fishing guide who stalks "gourmet" food, especially for his American clients; a tattooed, motorcycle-riding, fly-fishing beauty who teaches the hero a thing or two; his fishing buddies . . . a perverse and driven lot who continually push the envelope of sanity and good judgment.

"True Love" takes you to the Bob Marshall Wilderness to fish for grayling and trout, and to learn about enduring love. "The Woolly Bugger" is an odyssey through three decades of fishing and sometimes hard living, from the author's childhood bait fishing to his truly unusual conversion to flies and catch-and-release.

True Love and the Woolly Bugger will captivate you with remarkable stories, remarkably told, and leave you asking for more.

When is "sex, death, and fly fishing" not about the life cycle of an insect?

When you read the tales in True Love and the Woolly Bugger, where trout, tarpon, and bonefish are skillfully interwoven with all the experiences - funny, happy, and sad - that beset or bless anglers. Dave Ames writes about completely unforgettable characters: a laid-back Bahamian fishing guide who stalks "gourmet" food; a tattooed, motorcycle-riding, fly-fishing beauty who teaches the hero a thing or two; his perverse and driven fishing buddies - who continually push the envelope of sanity and good judgment.

The signature chapter, "True Love," takes you to the Bob Marshall Wilderness to fish for arctic grayling and cutthroat trout, and to learn about lifelong love. "The Woolly Bugger" is an odyssey through three decades of fishing and hard living, from the author's preadolescent bait drowning to his truly unusual conversion to flies and catch-and-release. In "A Light Green Rain," the hero discovers some rarified Pacific Northwest salmon fishing and a strange St. Paddy's Day party. Other stories touch on everything from the dubious pleasures of exotic travel to the life-threatening excitement of tarpon fishing.

True Love and the Woolly Bugger views fishing and life through a different lens. It will captivate you with remarkable stories, remarkably told, and leave you asking for more.

Dave Ames spends much of his time in pursuit of trout and grayling. He has written for the Chicago Tribune, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sports Afield, Fin and Feather, and Montana magazine. He lives in Helena, Montana.