By: Bill Stokes
152 pages
6 x 9 in.
Soft cover
ISBN 9781879483668
Bill Stokes was a longtime outdoor columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Previously he wrote for the Milwaukee Journal, the Wisconsin State Journal, and the Stevens Point Daily Journal. He is the author of six other books, including The River is Us. He is also a contributor to Wisconsin's Rustic Roads, and to other books.
In his book, Trout Friends, Bill Stokes realizes that trout fishing is an activity, possibly a madness, that moves him, time and again, to stand knee-deep in cold and murky waters, offer himself up to clouds of hungry mosquitoes, and attempt to keep from snagging his line in overhanging limbs while trying to outwit a wily rainbow or brook trout. And then trying to remember where the car is parked. Trout fishing has afflicted Stokes since childhood, and in a new collection of stories he shares fond memories of a lifetime of fishing expeditions. "What I know as trout fishing," says Stokes, "was shaped by an incredible lineup of uncles, neighborhood geezers, and extraordinary friends." In 22 short stories, Stokes recounts both the triumphs and the inevitable humiliations of his sport, recalling losing a fishing pole with Uncle Duffy, getting lost (and wet) with trout friend John Lawton, fishing with a dog named Doc(who was a good dry fly fisherman himself), talking trout with President Jimmy Carter, encountering trout ghosts, and — now that Stokes is the "old guy" of the fishing party instead of the kid — initiating his grandchildren into the same madness that has enlivened his life. "We all understand that fishing is not really about catching fish," says Stokes, "and that the joys involved in learning this verity from our predecessors and passing them to the kids is the real magic of it all."
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