Ninety-Two in the Shade

Tom McGuane a few years back wrote a novel entitled Ninety-Two in the Shade. Mc Guane's book was based in the Florida Keys, not West Michigan, but today, as I write this review, it feels like feels like the books title. Our West Michigan's rivers are low and warming.  Hatches that historically are in full swing this time of the year are waning.  With optimism we can look toward terrestrials and trico's.  Heading out for early morning sippers or hopper crashing bank feeders are the trout angler's options for the next few weeks.  Smallmouth and Skamania are available as well.  These fish are full of vim and vigor this time of the year, eating flies and leaping toward freedom.  A third option for the unbearably hot humid days such as today is to read more of McGuane or a variety of fly fishing essays by the likes of Sydney Lea, Kate Fox, Chris Dombrowski, Margot Page, Jim Harrison and others.  These authors and 24 others can be enjoyed in a new anthology titled

Astream:  American Writers on Fly Fishing.

Astream is edited by Robert Demott.  Dr. Demott is a professor of English at the University of Ohio.  With experience not only with words but with a fly rod, he has assembled a collection of essays that depict our sport in its truest fashion.  Choosing not only authors that have vast angling experience but those who are well respected writers, Demott has created a work that is top shelf from start to finish.  The author's biographies list literary publications such as The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Yankee, Esquire and the like to their credits- not your typical hook and bullet publications.  You may think, "High brow." Not really- just well chosen words structured in a intelligent fashion on the topic of our hobby, fly fishing.

Not only did the editor select strong essayists, but he picked strong pieces from their works. The essays show not only the human emotions of life but of fly fishing as well.   The McGuane piece, "Seeing Snook," first appeared in Sports Illustrated, and displays the editor's research skills. The essays by the female authors show a side to fishing that men rarely see, let alone understand.  The selected essay's focus on fresh and salt water fly fishihg and predominantly feature trout, although steelhead and salmon fly fishing are topics as well.  The words in these essays flow smoothly like a spring creek.  Spring Creek angling causes anglers to slow down, focus, and think about the fishing at hand.  The essays in Astream invokes the same process.  I read an essay, then stopped and reflected on the authors' words.  I reread Sydney Lea's essay several times and found it more astonishlingly honest with each read.   

Published by Skyhorse Publishing, this hardbound book retails for $24.95.  The forward is by Howell Raines.  Dr. Demott wrote the preface and acknowledgments with grace and style.   Dr. Demott also edited the book, Afield, essays about hunting dogs published a year back. 

Astream is a powerful book.  The anthology portrays the beauty of our sport along with the human element.  The authors stand alone alongside their words, words formed by having stood astream with fly rods in  hand.  In a perfect world, you would read Astream alongside your favorite stretch of water, but with July's heat surrounding us, an inside read would be fine since the words will transcend you Astream.

To purchase this book from Glen, please call 616.866.6060  or simply drop him an email.