Back cast : fly-fishing and other such matters /
Fly-fishing and other such matters
Jeff Metcalf.
- Salt Lake City : The University of Utah Press, (c)2018.
- 1 online resource
Includes bibliographies and index.
"Jeff Metcalf is a storyteller, an avid fly fisher, and, for personal reasons, an enhanced observer of the human condition. He finds himself often on the river banks of the American West. Cancer runs through him; cancer runs through his essays, but so do rivers, camaraderie, adventure, feeling for the natural world, and sheer joy in the challenge and focused engagement of the fishing cast. In these chapters one meets river guides and small-town locals, seasonal fishermen, and others who, like Metcalf, run to the river for solace and salvation. But these chapters are not just fish stories; they reveal community through fishing, deep connection to place, and reverence for each human's struggle for meaning. The reader experiences the river, sometimes calm and reflective, sometimes roiling and turbulent, and through the author's vivid words senses the pull of the steelhead and the fight for survival. Whether you fish or not, Metcalf's open and honest look at life will draw you in, and maybe even make you decide that you need to go fishing. "These waters have been my home and I fish them more than most. In truth, these rivers have saved my life on more than a few occasions. I seek refuge in the quiet solitude of rivers and in dark hours of my life and this particular year, I needed desperately to be fly-fishing."--Provided by publisher.