Even Brook Trout Get The Blues

As only he can. John Gierach writes about the hard life of a brook trout in the Rockies; bamboo versus graphite rods, hog holes, secret streams, and poachers; and, of course, the sport - or is it religion? - of fly-fishing. He fondly recalls learning to fish on the family farm pond; fishing for gar; fishing in the mountains during a late spring snow. As always with Gierach, all of it is richly observed and wryly described.

From his reminiscences about learning to fish to a lyrical piece about fishing during a late spring snow to a wry, though compassionate, look at the hard life of a brook trout, Gierach provides entertainment for fly-fishers and literature lovers alike. Drawings.

Fishing guru John Gierach provides entertainment for fly-fishers and literature lovers alike in this collection of fishing stories and observations.

Publishers Weekly

Behind the sardonic, hip titles of Gierach's fly-fishing travelogues ( Trout Bum ; Sex, Death and Fly-Fishing ) lurk grace, passion and wit--even angling epiphanies. Assembled here are 16 lively essays on his Rocky Mountain home streams, farm ponds, dogs and the peculiarity of fishing companions. Every Gierach story, while loaded with lore, is finally about trying to fit the odd but compelling perspectives that fishing bestows into accepted conventions of 20th-century sanity. In a funny, self-reflective mode that owes much to the writings of Richard Brautigan and Tom McGuane, Gierach highlights the fly fisher's single-minded devotion to the sport, with its elements of art, to suggest that the eccentricity is a very real wisdom: ``That is why we like to wander around the mountains with expensive flyrods: to get a taste of things the way they really are.'' His reflections persuade as they entertain. (May)

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, Field & Stream, where he is a contributing writer, and Fly Rod & Reel, 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.