[.ca] The Longest Silence: A Life in Fishing (ISBN 0679777571)

From Amazon.com:
As adept as Thomas McGuane has been through the years with a rod in his hand, he's even more skillful with his pen. Join the two like tippet to leader, and the result's as irresistible as a Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear in the middle of a Hendrickson hatch. For The Longest Silence, McGuane has trolled his inventory and assembled 33 essays written over three decades. Passionate, meditative, personal, and often very funny, they are filled with fellowship and connected by his love of angling. The title piece, a certified classic in the sporting genre, chronicles his quest for the elusive permit. Since permit is about the hardest fish to catch on a fly, the expected futility of not catching one hooks McGuane's introspection, and he weighs in with trophy prose: "What is emphatic in angling is made so by the long silences--the unproductive periods. For the ardent fisherman, progress is towards the kinds of fishing that are never productive in the sense of the blood riots of the hunting-and-fishing periodicals. Their illusions of continuous action evoke for him, finally, a condition of utter, mortuary boredom." That's McGuane on angling in a nutshell; he knows the real action is internal. Whether he's casting for salmon in Russia ("Fly-Fishing the Evil Empire"), bonefish in the Florida Keys ("Close to the Bone"), or trout in Ireland ("Back in Ireland"), the catch is secondary to the pursuit, and the pursuit has as much to do with making sense of self and the universe as it does with anything aswim in a river. "When you get to the water you will be renewed," he assures. "Leave as much behind as possible. Those motives to screw your boss or employees, cheat on your spouse, rob the state, or humiliate your companions will not serve you well if you expect to be restored in the eyes of God, fish, and the river, which will reward you with hollow waste if you don't behave. You may be cursed. You may be shriven. You may be drowned. At the very least, you may snap off your fly in the bushes." McGuane clearly wades in with honest intentions; in The Longest Silence he casts cleanly to his target again and again. --Jeff Silverman

smooth and satisfying:
I am adding The Longest Silence to my list of favorite books on the subject of fly fishing. I do believe that some thoughts are too deep for words. But McGuane's words dive deeper than any book I've ever read. I admit, as a life long Michigan resident, that the first chapter based on the Pere Marquette River hooked me. But, as I read I realized that whether he wrote about Michigan, or Montana, or Argentina that the location is not what it's all about. It's about the long silent moments. Everything else "has nothing to do with the necessity but rather with the elaboration of the dream that is fishing".

The examined life (and fly fishing, too).:
Well crafted, clean prose. A delight and a high spot in this year's reading.

The Reel Thing:
Thomas McGuane knows much about fish, fishing and fishermen. He also sees that the migratory fish is like a canary in a mineshaft. If it dies, the future of other even human life is threatened. Like the true angler he is more interested in the quality of his experiences in the fishing domain than in catching fish. Like Falkus but unlike most other angling writers, he perceives and conveys to his reader that fishing is not a competitive activity (like for instance golf or bridge), but rather it is an opportunity for man to engage with raw nature and from that engagement to learn humility.

One of the best about the silence and joy of fly fishig:
Over the past 20 years I have fished great rivers, streams and oceans. True, this isn't about how to be an expert fly fisherman but more about how to appreciate the sport. The author captivates you from the start and gives a very personal touch to a very personal place and time. For those who have never tried or experienced fly fishing a stream in a secluded area or watched nature announce the arrival of salt water fish, this is a must read. Compared to many of the great writers on the subject, and there are many, this writer raises the bar and leaves you wanting more.

Finally, words to describe the fishing landscape:
I came upon this book from a friend on a fishing trip to Baja. McGuane's crystalline dissection of fishing personalities and motivations are as crisp as his deep knowledge of fishing. It actually affected how I fished... I agree that the first half of the book is in bulk superior to the latter half, though his descriptions of 70s Key West was just perfect (I grew up in SoFL). His salt water bravado tales are oddly set against his erudite stream fishing tales. Anyone who fishes will love this book, anyone who does not fish may leave with a better sense of the madness. McGuane succeeds in writing about fishing so well that he makes Hemmingway's attempts seem crude and unknowing.