Real fishing, fly-fishing, is done mostly alone and in the wild, and John Gierach is to fishing what Roger Angell is to baseball--a seasoned observer who writes with knowledge, humor and a touch of reverence. Gierach (Standing in a River Waving a Stick) describes his days as a professional fishing writer in the first chapter of All Fishermen Are Liars with characteristic self-deprecating humor: "The worst that happens is that you occasionally go fishing without turning a profit: something normal people do every day."
Gierach meanders through Alaska, Canada, Wyoming, Colorado, Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula in search of good fishing and good company. His target species doesn't much matter; they all have their particular habits and especially picky tastes in flies. Sometimes a fisherman's biggest field decision is choosing which "comeback fly" to cast when the first one "presented" fails to get a hit. As an Oregon steelheader describes the process, the first fly is "the steak and potatoes that gets him in the door," but the comeback fly is "that little piece of cheesecake dessert that closes the deal."
Gierach amusingly dissects the secrets of great fishing lodges, iconoclastic guides and fly-fishing rod selection. In the end, he reminds us any gear will do, since "your odds of catching fish... increase the longer you keep the hook in the water"--even if, like one diehard Alaskan fisherman, you "pee in your waders rather than stop casting for five minutes to wade ashore and take care of business the normal way." Now that's a good fishing story. --Bruce Jacobs, founding partner, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kan.