Trout Bum: Fly Fishing As A Way Of Life

Written By John Gierach

Synopsis:

The people, the places and the accoutrements that surround the sport make a fishing trip more than just a set of tactics and techniques. Gierach, a serious fisherman with a wry sense of humor, shows us just how much more is involved when you're a trout bum. 6 x 9 inches, 226 pages. Softcover. 

While most of us fly-fish to escape from daily life, for John Gierach and his friends fly-fishing IS a way of life. They are trout bums. But John Gierach is also an exceptional writer. The essays in Trout Bum are reflective, bitingly humorous and enormously wise in the ways of fishing and men. In vivid, unforgettable detail they recount the emotional, spiritual and tangible adventures and pleasures of stalking trout in and around the Rockies -- day in, day out, from season to season, with friends and alone. John Gierach's essays join the literary tradition of angling classics like The River Why, and A River Runs Through It.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Gierach was born in the Midwest and grew up in Illinois, Minnesota and Ohio. He graduated from Findlay College with a degree in philosophy, then moved to the West, where he discovered fly-fishing. That discovery led him to settle down on the St. Vrain River near the small town of Lyons, Colorado. John works as a free-lance writer, photographer, and newspaper columnist and has had articles published in most major fishing and outdoor magazines. He is also the author of the highly acclaimed book Flyfishing the High Country.

PRAISE FOR TROUT BUM
"Trout Bum captures the passion, confusion and left-handed poetry of modern fishing, having his heart to the rivers he fishes, John Gierach conveys the power of his experience without pretense."
--Thomas McGuane

"Trout Bum is one of those delightful finds, like Norman McLean's A River Runs Through It. John Gierach is simply one of the more wonderful outdoor writers to come down the pike in many a season. I laughed out loud on almost every page, and found much of what he has to say very lyrical and touching. This book is a treasure trove of fishy witticisms, outright belly laughs, and enough technical lore and love of nature to keep the most avid (or even the least avid) outdoors person turning pages relentlessly.

Gierach obviously loves deeply and cares for this world he has chosen to make his stand in. It's a beautiful book, humorous, sly, rich, and touching. Once you read the first page, you'll be hooked...and love every minute of it...I promise!"
--John Nichols, author of The Milagro Beanfield War, The Magic Journey, and American Blood

REVIEWS
"A brilliant collection of narrative essays about flies, fly rods, float tubes, and just plain fishing. Trout Bum will be a classic of angling literature, not because it adheres to an ancient model, but because it updates a tradition....The way Gierach tells a story is an act of pure generosity...."
--Rod & Reel

"If you enjoy incisive comment, wry humor, and some inventive insight into trout and trout anglers, then Trout Bum is just the book for you...this is highly intelligent stuff indeed, but it is masterfully tempered by Gierach's polished and congenial style."
--Rocky Mountain Streamside