I love me some John Gierach! He is one of the best outdoor authors in the business today. If you have any interest at all in fly fishing, nature, or just good buddy stories, you owe it to yourself to give him a look.
I found this book to be a bit different than all the other (and there are many I have read) author's books. At times you could literally feel that Gierach was a bit morose. Completely understandable, as he wrote the book during the Covid lockdown. For a guy used to traveling all over the place fishing, this is completely understandable, as we ALL felt a bit like we were penned in. And in the process, we had to slow way down, and examine our own mortality. But he manages to keep fishing, taking day trips to some of his more local streams and rivers. And in the process of rediscovering them, he finds a bit of his old self again. He's still the guy you love to fish with, and to listen to his stories around the campfire!
This is excellent writing. As always, I found myself standing alongside the author (although at the mandated 6 foot Covid separation). He points out things I have observed myself while fishing, things I have forgotten about, and things that I should be more on the lookout for.
I felt the same way, being cooped up. During the roughly two year lockdown, I missed the comradeship of my good fishing buddies. And, unfortunately, several of them passed away during the nightmare, so I will never be able to fish with them again.
But things are getting back to normal. I have a bunch of fishing trips scheduled with friends, as I'm sure Gierach does. If anything, we will appreciate the time together, and the experiences had, more than we did before.
There is one quote from the book that really resonated with me, and I would like to share it. "...in fact I was never entirely successful as a hippie. I believed in peace, love, and the simple life in a general way, and still do, but my redneck strain ran deep and the yin-and-yang symbol you saw everywhere then as an emblem of balance and harmony always reminded me of two pork chops in a frying pan". EXACTLY!!!
I cannot wait to read the author's next book. I'm sure he's going to hit the ground at a full gallop, and will have tons more great stories to tell.