Even Brook Trout Get the Blues

by John Gierach Narrated by David Colacci

Overview

Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers.



"Once an angler has become serious about the sport (and 'serious' is the word that's used), he'll never again have enough tackle or enough time to use it. And his nonangling friends and family may never again entirely recognize him, either." In other words, he (or she) will have entered Gierach territory.



Whether debating bamboo versus graphite rods, describing the pleasure of fishing in pocket waters or during a spring snow in the mountains, or recounting a trip in pursuit of the "fascinatingly ugly" longnose gar, Gierach understands that fly-fishing is more than a sport. It's a way of life in which patience is (mostly) rewarded, the rhythms of the natural world are appreciated, and the search for the perfect rod or ideal stream is never ending. It is not a life without risks, for as Gierach warns: "This perspective on things can change you irreparably. If it comes to you early enough in life, it can save you from ever becoming what they call 'normal.'" Even Brook Trout Get the Blues will convince you that "normal" is greatly overrated.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's 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)

Library Journal

There are three writers all self-respecting fly-fishing collections should purchase on principle; Nick Lyons ( Confessions of a Fly-Fishing Addict , LJ 5/15/89) and W.D. Wetherell ( Upland Stream: Notes on the Fishing Passion , LJ 3/15/91) are the other two. The 16 stories in this collection lack some of the snap and verve of Trout Bum ( LJ 6/15/86) and The View from Rat Lake ( LJ 2/1/88), but Gierach again shows off his capacity to startle the reader with profanity or humor, much as a fisherman working a deep corner of a pond ties into an 18 brook trout. Colorado-based and Western water-oriented, he is nonetheless a writer for any region and any season to those who prize the literature of this sport. Recommended.-- David Panciera, Westerly P.L., R.I.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176405446
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	12/07/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged

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