Zipping My Fly: Moments in the Life of an American Sportsman

by Rich Tosches

Armed with a rod, a pen, and an eccentric sense of humor, Rich Tosches begins his globe-trotting exploration in the Grand Teton Mountains, site of the World Fly Fishing Championship. From the choices of a creek in Massachusetts, where he was first introduced to fly fishing, to the wilds of Alaska and New Zealand to his Colorado home, Tosches offers up a side-splitting collection of observations on every angle-and angler-of one of America's favorite pastimes.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published November 5, 2002

Reviews

[Suz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Might have been a good book if not for the dorky humor. I almost gave up reading this...

[Alina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rich Tosches was touted somewhere on the book as "combining Dave Barry and David Sedaris" in the flyfishing world. Ummmmm, no. Not even close. That's an insult to those other men, who truly are funny.

"Zipping My Fly" reads as if Tosches decided to make sure every sentence in the book had a joke when he went back to edit; the pounding of jokes never stops to let you enjoy anything subtle and most of them read as afterthoughts.
So he's not funny. Why do I keep reading? I hope to at least get some good stories about fly fishing. Do I? No. Not a single one. Each story is an excuse to tell terrible jokes; fly fishing only serves as the context for the jokes.

[Jared]

So sarcastic I had trouble determining what exactly was true and what was not. It was a very different style of fishing writing. I enjoyed his self-deprecation, as I too am a clumsy fisherman who can go many trips without seeing a fish. But I also enjoyed his connection to his children and the role fishing played in that.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book surprised me. Looked like your normal garage sale book... Though it is occasionally cheesy, there were more than a few times that I laughed out loud. Worthy of a read, if you're a fly-er...