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"Gierach is a first-rank fishing writer in the same league as Nick Lyons and Bill Tapply but his thoughtful meditations on both friends and family evoke Garrison Keillor."  Booklist

"Definitely a keeper... With the simple grace and native wisdom he is known for, Gierach...pays special tribute to the fish themselves, sharing his encyclopedic knowledge of North American fish, their feeding habits and their exquisite colorings." - Publishers Weekly

"[A]rguably the best fishing writer alive" - The Independent (UK)

"If Mark Twain were alive and a modern-day fly fisherman, he still would be hard put to top John Gierach in the one-liner department." - Sports Illustrated

"The irreverent, ironic style of outdoors writer John Gierach has made him one of the most popular contemporary writers on fly- fishing...wry, witty, and entertaining." - Seattle Times

Over the course of sixteen books and countless magazine pieces, John Gierach has written some of the most intelligent and lyrical prose to ever capture the sport and state of mind that is fly fishing. With Fool's Paradise, his first new volume in three years, the master is back with more keenly observed tales of fishing from all over North America, from Colorado to Nebraska to Newfoundland. Fool's Paradise is vintage Gierach, brimming with wit, wisdom, and quiet but penetrating insights into fishing, nature, travel, male camaraderie, and the wonders and (more often) annoyances of modern life.

Among the memorable essays in this rich collection:

The Best Trout Stream in the World: A secret spot near the U.S.-Canada border (Gierach coyly declines to be more specific) yields the biggest trout the author has ever seenand a wry essay on the conflicting pulls of greed and moderation. "Theres no rational reason to be more excited about a big trout than a little one," Gierach writes, "but then a rational man wouldnt waste his life fishing."

• Pike: Gierach writes poignantly of his childhood in Minnesota, learning how to fish by observing his father and other pike fishermen, "old guys with greasy caps and hands that were always scarred." Looking back, he writes, "It occurs to me now that I'll never really know how good a fisherman Dad was. In my receding memory he was simply the large person who seemed to know everything right up until the moment when it became obvious that he didn't." In Gierach's elegant prose, the pike's fearsome bite conjures both the limits of a child's knowledge and the pitfalls of adulthood.

• Trips: Gierach observes that despite the best-laid plans, "the earmark of every fishing trip is still uncertainty. If it weren't, why even go?" In this freewheeling essay on travel and fishing, Gierach sounds off on flying vs. driving, the art of packing light, bush pilots, satellite phones, and the other thrills and disappointments of angling in an unfamiliar place.

• Steelhead: This essay captures six idyllic days of spey casting in Idahos blissfully remote Salmon Valley, which has so far resisted commercialization, but perhaps not for much longer. The large fishing group with which Gierach arrives-six fishermen and two dogs-suggests that such a transition may be inevitable. While managing to land a couple of 30-inchers, Gierach meditates on fishing's Catch-22: as the country gets more crowded, the truly unspoiled spots become more rare-and in seeking them out we inevitably contribute to spoiling them.

• Labrador: Fortunately, the threat of commercialization seems more distant in this northeastern corner of Canada, near the Arctic Circle, accessible only by bush plane. Gierach and his buddies camp out in the Arctic wilderness and land some awesomely sized char. When a storm keeps their bush pilot from picking them up and turns a two- day trip into five, the fishermen are happy to keep angling away: "We'd been technically stranded, but the feeling was more that we'd found the perfect hiding place and were in no rush to be found." That is, until the coffee starts running out ...

• Rods: The author describes his love affair with vintage handmade bamboo rods, which over the years have gone from cheap flea market fodder to valuable collector's items-and are still damn good for catching fish. He reflects, "The best bamboo rods may or may not equal the chilly efficiency of the best graphites, but even if they don't, their amiable gracefulness more than makes up for it. There's always some sentimentality involved in choosing an old technology over the new one."

Carl Hiassen has said that "the next best thing to fly fishing is reading John Gierach's essays about it." Once again showcasing the author's trademark mix of beautifully written fishing stories, evocative travelogue, and social commentary, Fool's Paradise is classic Gierach.