The Tug Is the Drug

by Chris Santella

Overview

FISHING ADVENTURES FROM THE AUTHOR OF 50 PLACES TO FLY FISH BEFORE YOU DIE

These thirty stories take readers from leaping makos near the fairways of Torrey Pines to midnight Atlantic salmon fishing on the fabled Ponoi to encounters with very friendly mujeres on the streets of Havana . . . and even offer an unauthorized (yet unequivocal) account of Bob Dylan’s 1970s obsession with fishing. Santella’s peripatetic lifestyle and eye for entertaining details--even those that have little to do with the act of throwing flies at fish--will make you look at fishing in a whole different way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780811771290
Publisher:	Globe Pequot Publishing
Publication date:	05/01/2022
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Chris Santella is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon, where he resides with his wife and two daughters. He is the author of 19 books, including Fifty Places To Fly Fish Before You Die, Fifty Places To Play Golf Before You Die, Why I Fly Fish and Fifty Places To Drink Beer Before You Die (all Abrams), and Cat Wars: The Devastating Consequences of a Cuddly Killer (Princeton University Press, with Dr. Peter Marra). The Fifty Places series has sold over 500,000 copies.

Santella is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Washington Post, Trout, Fly Rod & Reel, The Drake, American Angler, and Fly Fish Journal. His writing has also appeared in The New Yorker,Wall Street Journal, Travel & Leisure, and Links, among many other publications. When he’s not at his desk, Santella loves to swing flies for steelhead on the Deschutes, Sandy, and North Umpqua Rivers, and to front Catch & Release, a four-piece rock band that plays original compositions…including a tune called “The Tug is the Drug.”

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

A Ferocious Gift Lures Anglers to Christmas Island 1

The Karma of Broken Trailers 5

Traveling Light 9

Calgary-A City Where Trout Fishing Does Not Go to Die 13

Chasing Juvenile Tarpon through Yucatán Mangroves 17

Off the Links, Onto the Stream 21

Frank Moore, Dean of the North Umpqua 25

When the Roosterfish Start to Run, Anglers Just Try to Keep Up 31

Once Considered "Trash," Carp Become Worthy Fly Rod Target 35

Seeking Stripers in the Shallows of Maine's Casco Bay 39

Nato and the Human Anchor 43

Postcard from Homosassa 47

In Ireland, Fishing for Salmon That Like a Crowd 55

On Our Own on Alaska's Kanektok River 59

Casting with the Master 63

Salmonflies Awaken Western Trout, Anglers 67

The Fish Whose Bite Is as Fierce as Its Name 71

White Nights of Salmon 75

Fly Anglers Are Drawn to a Toothy Adversary 79

The Addictive Allure of the Steelhead's Tug 83

Mojitos, Muchachas, y Sábalo 87

Lobstermen Turn to Guiding in the Yucatán 99

How to Get Skunked on the Bulkley and Threaten Your Marriage at the Same Time 103

Makos on the Fly 109

Size Does Matter When Spey Casting 113

The Man Who Brought Trout to a Valley of Gravel 117

Fishing with Lewis & Clark 121

The Greedy Beady Egg Man 127

Dylan: The Fly-Fishing Years 131

Feed Your Fish Head 135

Among the Hobbit Trout 145

Rainbows All 151

The Rainbows of Crater Lake 155

It Was Epic, Dude! 159

The Pledge 163

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished 167

Smallmouth in Greater Portland 171

About the Author 175

Editorial Reviews

Some fly-fishing books are not meant to be technical but rather to entertain and delight. Santella’s well-written short stories are about our passion: its anglers and fascinating essays. You will enjoy this one.— Lefty Kreh, fly fishing legend and author of numerous books, including Casting with Lefty Kreh, Fly-Casting Fundamentals, and 101 Fish

The list of how-to fly-fishing books is at least a mile long, but there are scant few that delve into the “why” with such clarity and credibility as this one. Nobody else wades as far out of the main channel, but brings it home with such resonance, like Santella can.— Kirk Deeter, Editor-in-Chief, TROUT Media

Tug is honest, fair and self-effacing, and it does what great angling writing should—it inspires us to get on the water more often to fish. If you don’t want to fish the world with a fly rod in hand after reading it, you better check for a pulse.— Greg Thomas, Editor, Fly Rod & Reel

From the Publisher

Tug is honest, fair and self-effacing, and it does what great angling writing should—it inspires us to get on the water more often to fish. If you don’t want to fish the world with a fly rod in hand after reading it, you better check for a pulse.

Greg Thomas

Some fly-fishing books are not meant to be technical but rather to entertain and delight. Santella’s well-written short stories are about our passion: its anglers and fascinating essays. You will enjoy this one. 

Lefty Kreh

The list of how-to fly-fishing books is at least a mile long, but there are scant few that delve into the “why” with such clarity and credibility as this one.  Nobody else wades as far out of the main channel, but brings it home with such resonance, like Santella can.

Kirk Deeter