Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the organic world, and life in general with the acknowledged expert of fishing writers.

With the wry humor and wit which have become his trademark, John Gierach writes about his travels searching for good fishing and better still fish stories. With this new assortment of essays on fishing-and hunting-Gierach discusses fishing for trout in Alaska, for salmon in Scotland, and for almost anything in Texas. He gives his perceptive observations about ice-fishing, getting dropped, angling at night, tournaments, and the fine art of tying flies. Gierach also shares his hunting technique, which involves reading a good book and finding out about occasionally to find out if any deer possess wandered by.

Always entertaining, frequently irreverent, and illuminating, Gierach invites listeners into his enviable way of life, and effortlessly sweeps them along. As he writes in Dances with Trout, ‘Fly-fishing can be solitary, contemplative, misanthropic, medical in some hands, poetic in others, and laced with conflicting visual considerations. It isn’t even very clear if catching fish is actually the idea.’