Even Brook Trout Get The BluesBrilliant, 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. And fishermen who choose to brave the crowds at the big hold, commune with the buddies at the “family pool,” or even wade into questionable waters in the dark of night are sure to recognize themselves in Even Brook Trout Get the Blues. 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. |
Contents
| 11 | |
| 22 | |
THE ROARING FORK | 35 |
THE FAMILY POOL | 47 |
GAR | 61 |
POCKET WATER | 75 |
THE HOG HOLE | 94 |
SPRING SNOW | 112 |
BAMBOO | 132 |
A FICTIONAL FISH STORY | 149 |
MONTANA | 163 |
A YEAR IN THE LIFE | 172 |
EVEN BROOK TROUT GET THE BLUES | 187 |
PIKE | 202 |
THE NEW POND | 214 |
DOGS | 124 |
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Common terms and phrases
actually asked bamboo fly rod bamboo rod bank bass belly boats big fish big trout birds Blue-winged Olive bluegills brook trout bugs caddis caddis flies canyon casting catch caught cold Colorado couple creek cutthroats Dave drive drove dry fly Family Pool farm ponds feel flies fly fishermen fly fishers fly patterns fly rod fly-fishing Frying Pan gotten Green Drake guess happen hard Harvey hatch hog hole hook Hungarian partridge hunting JOHN GIERACH kind of thing knew lake Larry Leonard longnose gar look mayflies midge Mike miles Montana mountain never nice northern pike nymphs okay once pickup pike pike fishing pocket water pretty probably rainbows river Roaring Fork season seems snow someone sometimes spawning sport spot stonefly stretch talked tell there's thought told trip trout stream truck usually waders wading walk weather
Popular passages
Page 14 - It's just hard to explain to a child that a kind of profound physical and mental stillness is required if you want to catch fish. That's one of those things you have to come to on your own.
Page 78 - It's steep, fast, broken, braided, loud, jumbled with boulders and deadfalls, pocked with deep holes, scoured by short, fast riffles and plunge pools, punctuated with eddies and backwaters, and generally filled with large and small pockets where the trout hide.
Page 180 - Ruedi is a bottom-draw dam—which accounts for the great tailwater fishery in the river below it—and the shrimp began to peter out into the stream. Naturally, the trout ate them, and in a few seasons the upper river was full of huge rainbows so fat and ugly they were almost obscene. Just as naturally, fly fishermen came from all over to catch these things, local fly tiers went half mad trying to tie a clear scud pattern, and, from the point of view of those of us who have fished there for a long...
Page 178 - Protestant flavor to it, and most of us live with the ideas that failure is the natural outcome of any human endeavor and that anything that's too easy isn't as good for the soul as it could be.
Page 158 - He should at least have the decency to tell me what was going on so I could make up my own mind, I said, adding, "Sooner or later we're gonna get caught, you know.