Fool's ParadiseBrilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers. If John Gierach is living in a fool’s paradise, then it’s a paradise that his regular readers will recognize and new fans will delight in discovering. Laced with the inimitable blend of wit and wisdom that have made him fly-fishing’s foremost scribe, Fool’s Paradise chronicles the fishing life in all its glory (catching your biggest fish ever) and squalor (being stranded in a tent during a soaking rainstorm). In Gierach’s world, both experiences are valuable, and perhaps inevitable. Fishermen everywhere will understand Gierach’s quest to discover and explore new waters (and then not to divulge the best locations to anyone), the unlikely appeal of winter fly-fishing, or his dismay at encroaching development (“You never get to point at a meadow full of browsing mule deer and say, ‘You know, all this was once condos.’”). Braving trips on small prop planes and down “Oh-My-God” roads, Gierach and his fishing buddies pursue bull trout in British Collumbia, steelhead in the Rocky Mountains, and pike so fierce that a wise fisherman wears Kevlar gloves for the obligatory trophy photo. Equal parts fishing lore, philosophy, and great fish stories, Fool’s Paradise may not be a perfect substitute for actually being out on the water, but it’s surely the next best thing. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 24
Page 3
... asked his guide what it was. The guide said, “Jaguar, señor.” Things like that heighten your consciousness to the point that you're more acutely aware of your surroundings than usual. That's why your memories of a fishing trip are ...
... asked his guide what it was. The guide said, “Jaguar, señor.” Things like that heighten your consciousness to the point that you're more acutely aware of your surroundings than usual. That's why your memories of a fishing trip are ...
Page 6
... asking you to report suspicious activity, I immediately begin to wonder if I'm acting suspiciously. On the other hand, I have done enough flying over the years to get my packing down to a science. It's really pretty simple: you bring ...
... asking you to report suspicious activity, I immediately begin to wonder if I'm acting suspiciously. On the other hand, I have done enough flying over the years to get my packing down to a science. It's really pretty simple: you bring ...
Page 7
... asked me how the fishing had been. On the next trip the bag passed muster in Denver, but at the Minneapolis airport—with still-wet waders packed inside—a friendly guy at curbside check-in hefted the bag and said, with a slight Swedish ...
... asked me how the fishing had been. On the next trip the bag passed muster in Denver, but at the Minneapolis airport—with still-wet waders packed inside—a friendly guy at curbside check-in hefted the bag and said, with a slight Swedish ...
Page 10
... asked to sign a waver of liability (it's fairly common now). You know, “the inherent dangers of weather, boats, bush flying and grizzly bears that are beyond the control of blah blah blah . . .” I thought, So it's finally arrived, and ...
... asked to sign a waver of liability (it's fairly common now). You know, “the inherent dangers of weather, boats, bush flying and grizzly bears that are beyond the control of blah blah blah . . .” I thought, So it's finally arrived, and ...
Page 19
... asked if the bull trout ate the streamer out of hunger or the territoriality you sometimes see in prespawning fish, he said he didn't know and it didn't matter: precisely the kind of practical answer you're likely to get from a fishing ...
... asked if the bull trout ate the streamer out of hunger or the territoriality you sometimes see in prespawning fish, he said he didn't know and it didn't matter: precisely the kind of practical answer you're likely to get from a fishing ...
Contents
1 | |
13 | |
Steelhead | 25 |
Pike | 37 |
Creeks | 49 |
Volcano | 61 |
Road Books | 75 |
The Best Trout Stream in the World | 87 |
Cheap Dates | 119 |
Hunt | 129 |
Winter | 139 |
Rods | 149 |
Labrador | 161 |
Nebraska | 173 |
Umpqua | 183 |
The Meeting | 193 |
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Common terms and phrases
actually afternoon anyway Arctic char asked bamboo fly rods bamboo rods bass begin big fish big musky birds blue-winged olive boat brook trout bugs bull trout cabin camp cast catch caught char coffee cold couldn’t course creeks cutthroats dark didn’t downstream dry fly fishermen fishing trip flies float fly fishing gone graphite green drake guides hand hatch hook hour hunt I’ve inches kind knew lake landed largemouth bass learned lodge look mayflies miles morning musky never nice nymph o’clock okay once pickup pike pounds pretty rain remember river rod makers salmon season smallmouth bass snow sometimes spawn spot started stay steelhead streamers there’s they’re things Thomas McGuane thought tippet told turned upstream usual Vince wading warm we’d weather week who’d you’re