WRITING ON THE FLY
By GEORGE LISET
As I was reading a John Gierach article from my latest edition of Trout Unlimited’s Trout magazine, my phone started blowing up with messages about John’s passing. My first reaction was a little selfish, no more books! John was most famous for his eponymous book “Trout Bum.” Trout bum’s premise was that one could eschew the typical career route and make a living fly fishing for trout all day.
John went to Findlay College in Ohio in the sixties when college kids began questioning authority. John was a Philosophy and Literature major and never stopped questioning authority. Deciding on being a Trout Bum was definitely a part of that. It was John’s way of thumbing his nose at the system and “The Man.” Although I am sure John’s close friends might tell you that he might do more than thumb his nose.
Growing up in the sixties I was infatuated by the movie “Endless Summer” where a couple of young guys travel the world with their surfboards and chase large waves. That was the life for me. I’d get a van and a couple of surf boards and off I would go. The fact that I had never surfed didn’t seem to be a factor, I mean, how hard could it be if some skinny, long haired kids could do it.
That phase passed when I found a love of boats. I would buy and sell boats, fix them up and learn to build them. In my spare time I would lobster, fish and clam to make extra money for gas. I had it all planned out, or so I thought, until my practical New England upbringing kicked in and I realized that something called being responsible was part of that and I went with the house, family and white picket fence.
It was while I was living the American Dream that I started fly fishing, and then I read Gierach’s “Trout Bum.”
At this point in time I was over the Trout Bum stage, but I certainly enjoyed reading about someone else who was living their dream and getting paid to do it. Oh, the places you will go. As John said in a recent podcast, “It has to be fun to make sense, not necessarily economic sense. Being a fishing writer doesn’t make economic sense, except for the fact you are having fun.”
John has written over twenty books and I have more than one of every copy in my office, and many are signed. When I meet a fly fisher that has never read any of John’s books I will usually give them a copy. I have never met John, but I feel like I know him. John’s writing style was very personable, and he doesn’t usually cut any quarter in his podcasts and interviews.
John’s legacy will be that he was a fly fishing ambassador to the average Joe. John would cruise the back roads of the Rocky Mountains in his old four wheel drive and fish the small streams for trout. John would forgo using expensive fishing paraphernalia like name brand fly fishing vests and clothing and go with an old fishing shirt and Converse sneakers for wading. He would look like an old timer versus an Orvis model on the water. Something your average fly fisher could relate to.
When I am on the river I come across many fly fishers with the Trout Bum spirit. These anglers realize that not everyone can make a living off fly fishing, but that they can spend as much time as they have on the water chasing trout. They carry their fly fishing gear in their vehicles because you never know when you might come across a fishy looking stream.
I came to fly fishing later in life, but it still hit me hard. I remember beautiful days at work and thinking I should be on the water. At night I would read and reread John’s books looking for bits of advice and enjoy learning about fishing in the Rocky Mountains, Wyoming and trips to Labrador. I could save a few dollars and live vicariously through John’s adventures and sometimes misadventures.
If you have not read any of John’s books, you are in for a treat. You can find them at bookstores or online. One can even find them at thrift shops. John would like that because that would be like thumbing your nose to “The Man,” and that would bring John great joy.
George Liset of Dover is an award-winning outdoor writer and avid fly fisherman who shares insights of his time on the water exploring New Hampshire streams and rivers as well of those around New England. George is a graduate of Wheaton College, Illinois, and the University of New Hampshire. His column Writing on the Fly has been honored by the New England Press Association and the New Hampshire Press Association.
