Brilliant, 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 foolтАЩs paradise, then itтАЩs 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-fishingтАЩs foremost scribe, FoolтАЩs 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 GierachтАЩs world, both experiences are valuable, and perhaps inevitable.
Fishermen everywhere will understand GierachтАЩs 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 (тАЬYou never get to point at a meadow full of browsing mule deer and say, тАШYou know, all this was once condos.тАЩтАЭ). Braving trips on small prop planes and down тАЬOh-My-GodтАЭ 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, FoolтАЩs Paradise may not be a perfect substitute for actually being out on the water, but itтАЩs surely the next best thing.