John, if I had a spare $20k I’d buy the original painting from your latest book cover and give it to you as a small token of my deep appreciation for the joy you’ve brought into my life from your wonderful books. Thank you from a veteran of 50+ years of fly tying and fly fishing. I got an early start tying flies and fly fishing at age 8 and 10 respectively, and now at 60, I’m as passionate as ever about both pursuits. It’s my life. And your books give voice to that life of a fly fisherman that many of us cherish as the best part of living. Thank you kind sir!
Two wonderful people with respect for each other and for the sport and for genuine entertainment. Interesting dialogue on fishing and on writing yet delivered with humility that is so rare in the entertainment world today. Truly enjoyed every minute. Great stuff!
Glad to have found this, there is so little on RU-vid from Gierach , he’s dead right about not striking salmon, the old boys in Scotland had a big loop they would let go when they felt a take, when the loop had slid out then they tightened. I don’t have the self control not to strike if I felt a fish on the line like that, rather than release the loop. So I set my Marquis number 2 on the lightest drag possible, the current almost completely counters that anyway, so the slightest pull from a fish makes the real click, I let the click accelerate into a purr, then I hold the reel handle and lift the rod, there is a thump thump on the 14’ tip, and the salmon and angler realise they are both hooked. Being asleep is a huge advantage, up to that point! But mostly I am a dry fly angler on The River Dove in Derbyshire, where Izaac Walton fished in the 1650s. All the best to fly fisherman in the USA and Canada from the U.K.
Believe it or not, he did do that. Or maybe it was his second book. I bought the three-cassette audio book back in the summer of ‘88. Too bad it’s long out of ‘print’ now; but there’d have to be a master of it somewhere!
He did audio versions of his first two books, Trout Bum and A View from Rat Lake. I listened to those cassettes so many times I wore them out. I do wish someone would reissue them, or made them available to download. They were wonderful,
John I think I met you at a gas station in PA. I was on my way to fish an awesome place. But I didn’t want to be a star struck fan lol. Anyway next time you come to PA you should fish with Joe Humphreys