On the Water: A Fishing Memoir - Softcover

De La Valdène, Guy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1493039644 ISBN 13: 9781493039647

Publisher: The Lyons Press, 2019

Synopsis

On the Water is a gorgeously written collection of essays that all take place on or near the water and pay tribute to the flora and fauna associated with those ecosystems. There are essays about the finer points of tickling rainbow trout in the streams of Normandy, and of eagles and ospreys fishing for bass while barely breaking the surface of the water. There are stories of droughts and floods, of dogs and boats, of worms and rattlesnakes and even of catching and cooking soft-shell turtles that taste like osso-bucco. There is fishing and diving in the Bahamas, tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys, and fly fishing for sailfish in Central America. And there are larger-than-life personalities that are bigger than the fish tales they tell! On the Water is a finely honed and well crafted collection of tales for the true sportsman and makes for a perfect companion volume to la Valdene’s celebrated collection of essays on hunting.

About this title

About the Author

Guy de la Valdene was born and raised in France His previous books include The Fragrance of Grass, For a Handful of Feathers, Making Game and a novel, Red Stag. His numerous articles have appeared in Sports Afield, Field & Stream and Gray's Sporting Journal. In addition, La Valdene is the director and producer of the highly acclaimed documentary Tarpon. Filmed in Key West in 1973 and featuring Richard Brautigan, Tom McGuane, and Jim Harrison, the film was recently restored and re-released. La Valdene lives on an 800-acre farm near Tallahassee, Florida.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

“Proximity to water has always been part of my life. Where I grew up in Normandy there were two mapped rivers, a dozen streams and rivulets, subordinate farm ponds, and a moat that girdled the castle. Later it was on the saltwater flats of the Bahamas and then in the shallow waters of the Florida Keys where I learned to appreciate fish I could see and stalk, fish I could cast at, and fish that fought back. Once I knew how to use a fly rod, I added to my angling settings the Pacific Ocean and a number of the rivers around the world. Now, as an older man with an aversion to crowded airports, it is once again a freshwater pond that gathers my attention.”

--From O

n the Water

Edition details

• Publisher: The Lyons Press
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1493039644
• ISBN 13: 9781493039647
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192