From Booklist
Tapply, author of the acclaimed Brady Coyne mystery series, offers an intriguing look at the important part that trial and error plays in fishing success. His seventh angling memoir is made up of 45 essays; he describes plenty of big fish, bright days, and beautiful landscapes along the way, but his angling triumphs are always set in the context of the work it took to make them happen. Practice and understanding your mistakes, he reminds fellow anglers, are essential to catching fish. In the course of discussing fishing in the Northeast and West for striped bass, bluefish, trout, pike, panfish, and carp, Tapply masterfully combines clear advice with angling aphorisms and delightful comic asides, including mention of the "Lewinsky" saltwater lure (fish that should know better can't resist it). Tapply is a fine stylist and a genuine wit; his essays are beautifully structured and never fail to have marvelous endings. For all fishing collections. John Rowen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"...the seductively simple and supremely satisfying craft of taking fish on the surface." --James R. Babb, Editor, Gray's Sporting Journal
Book Description
In this collection of twenty-eight essays that moves with remarkable ease from the quirky to the lyrical to the downright hilarious is vintage Tapply.
From the Back Cover
In this eclectic collection of essays - twenty-eight in all - William Tapply moves with remarkable ease from the quirky to the lyrical to the downright hilarious. To wit, Tapply explores the frenzy that leads him to "forgo sleeping and eating and nursing important relationships and earning a living" in order to be where the trout and bass are. He details the fly-fishing corollaries of Murphy's Law (such as, "If you drop a reel onto the pavement, it's your new Abel, not that old Pfleuger Medalist."). He provides instructions on raising children to be trout-fishing partners ("Anticipate when they'll get bored, and quit five minutes earlier."). He ruminates on the art of tying flies ("Pretty soon, it's not enough to catch fish on flies you've tied yourself. You want to catch fish on flies you've invented.") And lots more. Pocket Water is vintage Tapply for fans and newcomers alike. (6 1/4 x 9 1/4, 256 pages, illustrations)
