Synopses & Reviews
In
Still Life with Brook Trout, John Gierach demonstrates once again that fishing, when done right, is as much a philosophical pursuit as a sport.
Gierach travels from Wyoming to Maine, and to points in between, searching out new fishing adventures and savoring familiar waters with old and new friends. He ruminates on the importance of good fishing guides ("Really, the only thing a psychiatrist can do that a good guide can't is write prescriptions"); the necessity of keeping some trade secrets ("Paul kept pointedly referring to it as 'The River Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken'"); and the difficulty of fishing with dignity ("The few who I've seen try all ended up looking like pompous fools, although to their credit, many of them came to realize that and eventually would fish only with other pompous fools"); as well as more serious topics, such as the effects of the drought in the West and the politics of dam building. Gierach shows us that fishing begins with a rod and reel but encompasses so much more -- a passion shared among friends, a way of experiencing the natural world that is uncommon these days, or as Gierach puts it: "Living gracefully in any kind of natural environment takes patience and acceptance: the two qualities we Americans have pretty much bred out of ourselves."
Reflecting on a recent trip to a familiar small creek near his home, Gierach writes, "In my brightest moments, I think slowing down...has opened huge new vistas on my old home water. It's like a friendship that not only lasts, but gets better against the odds." Similarly, Still Life with Brook Trout proves that Gierach's prose, like fishing itself, only becomes deeper and richer
Review
"The next best thing to fly-fishing is reading John Gierach's essays about it. Nobody understands better the fine line between healthy passion and clinical pathology that we anglers so comically tread."
-- Carl Hiaasen
Review
"Gierach's stories are laced with humor; he's a master at the surprise one-liner, the glowing paragraph of insight."
-- Don Lewis, The Milwaukee Journal
Review
"The finest writer on fishing today."
-- Keith Elliott, The Independent (London)
Review
"You and your friends are swapping fishing stories, and a good one comes to mind. It feels like a story someone just told you, or even like something that happened to you, but then you realize you read it in a Gierach book. John's the best kind of storyteller -- the kind who tells us our own stories."
-- Paul Schullery, author of Royal Coachman and Lewis and Clark Among the Grizzlies
About the Author
John Gierach is the author of several previous books, including At the Grave of the Unknown Fisherman, Standing in a River Waving a Stick, and Dances with Trout. His work has appeared in Gray's Sporting Journal, FieldandStream, where he is a contributing writer, and Fly RodandReel, where he is a columnist. He also writes columns for the Longmont (CO) Daily Times-Call and the monthly Redstone Review. He lives in Lyons, Colorado.