The Fly Fisherman's Guide to the Meaning of Life - Hardcover

Kaminsky, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 157954584X ISBN 13: 9781579545840

Publisher: Rodale Press, 2002

Synopsis

Peter Kaminsky, one of the premier experts on fly-fishing, offers his unique worldview to fishermen and women everywhere in this fifth "meaning of life" guidebook. As any true fly fisherman knows, fly-fishing is more than a sport. It's an affirmation of life. This lyrical book muses on the philosophy of fly-fishing, rather than the hook and ballet aspect of the sport. Kaminsky calls up the greats of fly-fishing lore and his own profound experiences of early mornings, damp clothes, exuberant catches and releases, and peace. During the hardest times, times when the world seems all wrong, he fly fishes. In these 15 pieces, readers will be transported to another more joyful place where the bass and trout whisper a philosophy of life that makes sense.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Kaminsky is the author of The Moon Pulled Up an Acre of Bass. He has written about angling and the outdoors for nearly twenty years. His work has appeared in Field & Stream and Outdoor Life, and his "Outdoors" column appears regulary in the New York Times. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two daughters.

From the Back Cover

"When I have a fly rod in my hand and water all around me ... I enter a different reality, one in which I am fully alive, fully focused, where each second is a ripe fruit bursting with juice."

The fly fisherman is a unique breed of sportsman, one who prides himself on his keen appreciation of the power and poetry of nature-- the sparkle of sunlight dancing off riffles in a wild trout stream, the drama and mystery of life and death played out in the cool depths of tranquil pools, the surreal beauty of a spontaneous mayfly hatch, the heart-thumping eruption of an explosive surface strike. But beyond this almost spiritual connection to woods and water, the fly fisherman is also prone to deep understanding of man and his place in the world, probably due to his fondness for reflection.

In The Fly Fisherman's Guide to the Meaning of Life, author Peter Kaminsky writes knowingly about the angler's passion of pursuit, as well as the equally important pursuit of passion. Kaminsky offers up his own hard-won lessons from the field, words of wisdom from some of the sport's master casters, and, hopefully, the inspiration to his readers to live life as the ultimate adventure each and every day.

From the Inside Flap

The Fly Fisherman's Guide to the Meaning of Life

On Riding Things Out
When things are great, anglers are known to enter a kind of fishing rapture. But once in this state, the minute things slow down they want to race off to the next spot. This is the piscatorial presumption that the fishing is always better on the other side of the lake. It isn't-- and more times than not if you leave fish to find fish you will find nothing. When the going is good, stay with it.

On The Nature Of Success
You fail more than you succeed. One cast out of ten, or twenty, or a hundred may produce a strike at the other end of the line.... And then, when a fish does take the fly, you must set the hook, fight it well, and not let it break your leader with its leaps and runs and dives under a rock or branch. All in all, the odds are against you big time. Still, the pursuit excites.

On Home Turf
Home is where you feel safe when your children go fishing. Home is where you know when it is unsafe. Home is where every one of your friends has a fish tale about a place you know. Home is where no one cuts you slack about your own embroidered fishing yarns.... Home is anywhere, then, where the quality of the experience, if only for a moment, makes you feel "I have always been here."

On Getting Older
The key to enjoyment at fifty-five is the same as the key to enjoyment at fifteen: Do whatever you can do as well as you can, then try to do a little more-- but don't try to rewrite the record books. You probably can't, and it's not important anyway.

On Teaching And Learning
This would not be the frist time in the course of our week that my daughter would outfish me. As she caught big fish and learned to play them, her confidence increased and her casting improved, thanks in no small part to her guide.... I was happy that she had finally moved into the class of real fly fisherpeople.

Peter Kaminsky is the author of The Moon Pulled Up an Acre of Bass. He has written about angling and the outdoors for nearly twenty years. His work has appeared in Field & Stream
up0and Outdoor Life, and his "Outdoors" column appears regulary in the New York Times. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two daughters.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rodale Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 157954584X
• ISBN 13: 9781579545840
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 144