Gone Fishin': Ruminations on Fly Fishing

by William G. Tapply

Here is longtime fly-fishing writer William G. Tapply on the large and small pleasures of fishing, from fly tying to hunting the big ones. In "Extreme Angling," Tapply dismisses the idea of fly fishing as "the quiet sport," with tales of grizzly attacks, rogue logs, and big water. In "Hexed," he finds out that his local stream - overstocked and overfished - offers a lot more than he ever suspected. In "Paying Homage," he describes the mystical joys of the Beaverkill in upstate New York. In "Seven for the Road," he gives readers a peek at some of the most important things he stows in his tackle bag, including the books he carries on every trip.

Included here are also Tapply’s ruminations on:
• Coming Unstuck
• Playing Guns
• Bank Shots
• Twiggling
• Bass Bugging for Trout
• Zen and the Art of Jiggering
• Eastern Steelhead
• The Fish of 1,000 Casts
• Selective Perch
• The Upside-Down Dun
• Flymphs Reconsidered
• Tap’s Bug
• and many more 

Gone Fishin' is an inspiring collection, from a fisherman whose writing is well known and even more respected.

183 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2004

About the author

William G. Tapply (1940–2009) was an American author best known for writing legal thrillers. A lifelong New Englander, he graduated from Amherst and Harvard before going on to teach social studies at Lexington High School. He published his first novel, Death at Charity’s Point, in 1984. A story of death and betrayal among Boston Brahmins, it introduced crusading lawyer Brady Coyne, a fishing enthusiast whom Tapply would follow through twenty-five more novels, including Follow the Sharks, The Vulgar Boatman, and the posthumously published Outwitting Trolls.

Besides writing regular columns for Field and Stream, Gray’s Sporting Journal, and American Angler, Tapply wrote numerous books on fishing, hunting, and life in the outdoors. He was also the author of The Elements of Mystery Fiction, a writer’s guide. He died in 2009, at his home in Hancock, New Hampshire.

Reviews

[Will Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Essays start out as solid pieces but then several meandering stories are included which dampened the book.

[Linda]

I never read this but somehow when I was trying to put
Gone Girl in this happened. Someday I hope to figure all of this out.