Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers. 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.

Trout Bum (John Gierach's Fly-fishing Library)

Humor & Entertainment

Gierach, John

Humor

Simon&Schuster

In the world of fishing there are magic phrases that are guaranteed to summon the demon. Among them are: 'remote trout lake', 'fish up to 13 pounds', 'the place the guides fish on their days off', writes John Gierach in this wonderful collection of thirteen essays inspired by a fishing trip to Rat Lake, a remote body of water in Montana. Once again John Gierach does what he does best - explain the peculiarities of the fishing life in a way that will amuse novices and seasoned fly fishers alike. The View from Rat Lake deftly examines man in nature and nature in man, the pleasures of fishing the high country, and the high and low comedy that occasionally overcomes even the best-planned fishing trip. Some typically sage observations from The View from Rat Lake: "One of the things we truly fish for [is] an occasion for self-congratulation". "In every catch-and-release fisherman's past there is an old black frying pan". "We . . . believe that a 12-inch trout caught on a dry fly is four inches longer than a 12-inch trout caught on a nymph or streamer.

The View From Rat Lake

Sex, Death, and Fly-Fishing

From the irrepressible author of Trout Bum and The View from Rat Lake comes an engaging, humorous, often profound examination of life's greatest mysteries: sex, death, and fly-fishing. John Gierach's quest takes us from his quiet home water (an ordinary, run-of-the-mill trout stream where fly-fishing can be a casual affair) to Utah's famous Green River, and to unknown creeks throughout the Western states and Canada. We're introduced to a lively group of fishing buddies, some local "experts" and even an ex-girlfriend, along the way. Contemplative, evocative, and wry, he shares insights on mayflies and men, fishing and sport, life and love, and the meaning (or meaninglessness) of it all.

Biographies & Memoirs

The author offers sage observations on sex, fly fishing and the meaning of life and sport in essays that discuss the joy of success and the miseries of going fishless

Sports & Outdoors

Hunting & Fishing

Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers. Fly-fishing’s finest scribe, John Gierach, takes us from a nameless stream on a nameless ranch in Montana to a secret pool off a secret creek where he caught a catfish as a five-year-old, to a brook full of rattlesnakes and a private pond where the trout are all as long as your leg. As Gierach says, “The secret places are the soul of fishing.” Hearing about a new one never fails to entice us. And so Where the Trout Are All as Long as Your Leg transports the reader to the best of these places, where the fish are always bigger and the hatches last forever. After all, it’s these magical places that Gierach so vividly evokes that remind us how precious—and precarious—are the unspoiled havens of the natural world.

Where the Trout Are All as Long as Your Leg (John Gierach's Fly-fishing Library)

Brilliant, 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.

Even Brook Trout Get The Blues

Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers. With the wry humor and wit that have become his trademark, John Gierach writes about his travels in search of good fishing and even better fish stories. In this new collection of essays on fishing —and hunting—Gierach discusses fishing for trout in Alaska, for salmon in Scotland and for almost anything in Texas. He offers his perceptive observations on the subject of ice-fishing, getting lost, fishing at night, tournaments and the fine art of tying flies. Gierach also shares his hunting technique, which involves reading a good book and looking up occasionally to see if any deer have wandered by. Always entertaining, often irreverent and illuminating, Gierach invites readers into his enviable way of life, and effortlessly sweeps them along. As he writes in Dances with Trout, “Fly-fishing is solitary, contemplative, misanthropic, scientific in some hands, poetic in others, and laced with conflicting aesthetic considerations. It’s not even clear if catching fish is actually the point.”

Dances With Trout (John Gierach's Fly-fishing Library)

Entertaining anecdotes take readers into the fascinating and mystifying world of fly-fishing, touching on subjects that range from farm ponds, to the peculiar sport of gar shooting, to the tenacity of brook trout. By the author of Trout Bum. 20,000 first printing. Tour.

Essays describe fishing for trout in Alaska, fishing for salmon in Scotland, ice-fishing, hunting, getting lost, night fishing, fly tying, and fishing tournaments

Dances with Trout

The author of Dances with Trout offers a whimsical collection of meditations on the fishing life, sharing thoughts and anecdotes on topics ranging from the perils of getting a fishing rod past airport security to the joys of Labrador fishing. 35,000 first printing. Tour.

Another Lousy Day In Paradise

Puzzles & Games

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gierach, John. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gierach, John

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gierach, John. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Trout Bum (John Gierach's Fly-fishing Library)

The View From Rat Lake

Sex, Death, and Fly-Fishing

Sex, Death, and Fly-Fishing

Where the Trout Are All as Long as Your Leg (John Gierach's Fly-fishing Library)

Even Brook Trout Get The Blues

Dances With Trout (John Gierach's Fly-fishing Library)

Even Brook Trout Get The Blues

Dances with Trout

Another Lousy Day In Paradise