Fly-Fishing the 41st: Around the World on the 41st Parallel [Hardcover]

James Prosek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 4, 2003

"One day, I left in a straight line from home at 41 Kachele Street, east along the 41st parallel, following my passion for fish. It was a journey not only away from home, but toward it; which is the beauty of traveling in a circle, and the irony of adventure. This suited me, for in the event that I strayed -- as I would likely take some latitude with the latitude -- as long as I could find my way back to the 41st parallel I would not get lost."

-- James Prosek

The New York Times has called James Prosek "the Audubon of the fishing world" and in Fly-Fishing the 41st, he uses words and color to bring to life an astonishing adventure around the world. Beginning in his hometown of Easton, Connecticut, Prosek circumnavigated the globe along the 41st parallel. Home of Spain, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, China, and Japan; marched over and fought for by Marco Polo, Genghis Khan, and Alexander the Great -- it contains some of the great cities and great fishing of the world. As he traveled the globe along the latitude of his hometown, he was surprised to find, through his love of fishing, a connection with the people and cultures he encountered.

Prosek finds fish in country streams and city rivers -- even the Seine in cosmopolitan Paris, once severely polluted, is now teeming with life. Several of the streams he fishes in Turkey and the Balkans bring him through areas of turmoil, and in countries where fishing is done for food instead of enjoyment, he is often greeted with puzzlement, but throughout, he is at home on the water. From the meadows of Connecticut to the minefields of the Balkans, to the fringe of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, and small mountain streams in the Shiritoko Peninsula of Hokkaido, Japan, Fly-Fishing the 41st, the journey of a fisherman, captures with words and colors the humanity and shared love of fishing. Prosek's beautiful watercolors are the perfect complement to this amazing work of discovery.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Prosek (Trout: An Illustrated History) takes his passion for trout across the world in a travel narrative that is like a river, sometimes meandering and often refreshing. Realizing that he has happily fished his entire life around his home of Easton, Conn., Prosek decides to fish that parallel because that's where trout thrive. He first travels to Spain where he fishes the freshwater streams within the Moorish Alhambra, then goes on to Paris. There, he meets an eccentric group of artists and fishermen whose ringleader is a man named Pierre, and together they fish the Seine for a catfishlike monster, the silure. Prosek vibrantly contrasts the grandness of Paris with the remote calm of the early morning Seine. He next meets a fanatic (sometimes annoyingly so) Austrian baker, and fisherman, named Johannes, who takes Prosek to such far-flung regions as Corsica, Turkey, Armenia and Mongolia. It is during Prosek's travels with Johannes (who snorkels rather than casts for fish) that the reader realizes that the fishing is secondary to the adventure. Some of Prosek's best moments happen on a solo journey to Japan. There, he describes the food and countryside-on crisp autumn walks to streams-as evocatively as he describes the varied colors of the fish. Prosek's passion and earnest investigation more than make up for any absence of tall fish tales. 18 color plates by Prosek not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Fly-fishing around the world on the forty-first parallel sounds like an idea that was cooked up solely to produce a book, but it turns out not to have been a bad idea at all. Prosek takes us east from his home in Connecticut through southern Europe, the Balkans, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Japan, then back home again through the western U.S., stopping frequently to indulge his passion for fishing. Traveling often with an Austrian ichthyologist whose fanatical interest in trout and char exceeds even his own, Prosek goes to great lengths to find the rarest species in the remotest areas, yet never spurns a chance to catch whatever swims in the nearest stream, river, pond, or lake. Unlike his traveling companion, Prosek's enthusiasm for fish by no means blinds him to the charms and eccentricities of the places he goes and the people he meets, so his account reads at least as much like a travelogue as a fishing journal, and as such it will interest readers who don't know a caddis from a coat-rack, as well as those who do. Dennis Dodge
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1 edition (March 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060193794
• ISBN-13: 978-0060193799
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,569,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Prosek is a writer and artist whose books include Trout: An Illustrated History; Joe and Me: An Education in Fishing and Friendship; The Complete Angler: A Connecticut Yankee Follows in the Footsteps of Walton; and Fly-Fishing the 41st. He lives in Easton, Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a disappointment!, May 3, 2007

By 

Derek Groff (Sparta, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fly-Fishing the 41st: Around the World on the 41st Parallel (Hardcover)

James Prosek is as brilliant an artist as he is a poor writer. His style is regrettably imitative, paying obvious homage to both Thomas McGuane and Ernest Hemingway without measuring up as even a respectable forgery. I really anticipated a flyfishing book; not a boastful manuscript of sexual conquests. The fishing community wants John Gierach, not Danielle Steel. If you want to buy something by Mr. Prosek, make it the watercolor books of artistry and history. They are top notch.

8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Trout galore and more, April 17, 2003

By 

A.D.Richardson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fly-Fishing the 41st: Around the World on the 41st Parallel (Hardcover)

James Prosek, "the young Audubon" of trout and fly fishing, has done it again with his latest book "Fly Fishing on the 41st." He seems to go from strength to strength. What at first seemed like a stunt, to fish around the globe on the 41st parallel, turns out to be a rich taste of ichthyology, sociology, geography, and biography, to say nothing of Prosek's appealing illustrative art.
This is far more than any one of these fields by itself. For in combining all of them, he takes the reader on an engrossing journey, serious in its aim, yet fascinating in its account of "schwarzfishers" and their adventures seeking trout, often in officially forbidden territory, but in fact acceptable to any true sportsman. For the main thrust is catch and release, keeping what he and his companions caught only for scientific purposes (except for the occasional campers' meal.)
Prosek's emphasis on limning the various couontries visited, the fishermen who were his companions and the wide variety of trout in the world all combine to make this a very readable book for a wide audience. I recommend it highly for anyone.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Vicarious Adventure, February 9, 2004

By 

Clan Gardner "Gregor" (Durango, CO USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fly-Fishing the 41st: Around the World on the 41st Parallel (Hardcover)

The great open spaces of wanderlust and youthful adventure form the landscape of this book. Two themes thread their way like rivers through this landscape: the restless pursuit of trout (and other exotic fish); and a stream of colorful characters, drinking pals, and the occasional lovely lass. Prosek's prose is usually straightforward and Hemingway-esque, sometimes starkly and surprisingly poetic--like a haiku. Reading the book I was transported to wonderful youthful days gone by and was sorry when it was all over. If you're looking for a book that's first and foremost about fly-fishing, this isn't really it. If you're game for a vicarious adventure through far-flung exotic lands punctuated by a bit of fishing along the way, this tale is a joy.