Outstanding, witty, perceptive essays on the subject of fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general from the acknowledged get better at of fishing writers.

Proving that fishing isn’t just a part-time pursuit, On the Grave of the Unknown Fisherman uses us through a year with America’s favorite fishing scribe, John Gierach, who dedicates himself to his enthusiasm despite his belief that ‘In the long term, fishing usually quantities to a lifetime of pratfalls punctuated by rare moments of perfection.’

Beginning about In the Grave from the Unknown Fisherman with an early on spring expedition to barely thawed Wyoming waters and closing with a New Year’s Eve visit to the Frying Pan River in Colorado, Gierach’s travels find him fishing for trout, carp, and grayling; taking into consideration the pros and cons of learning fishing from movies (‘video fishing seems similar to film sex: fun to watch, but quite a distance from the true matter’); pondering the ethics of posting secret areas; and debunking the misconception from the unflappable outdoorsman (‘experts of stillness externally, festering s***openings of uncertainty slightly below the surface area’).

With an appreciation from the highs, the lows, and all points between, Gierach writes about the angling life with wisdom, grace, as well as the well-timed wisecrack. As he says, ‘The period never will officially end here, nonetheless it ends efficiently, which means you can fish if you wish to and when you can stand it, nevertheless, you don’t have to.’ As any Gierach fan knows, wish to and also have to should never be very considerably apart.