Fly-Fishing for Sharks: An Angler's Journey Across America [Paperback]

Richard Louv (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2001

For three years, journalist Richard Louv listened to America by going fishing with Americans. Doing what many of us dream of, he traveled from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from trout waters east and west to bass waters north and south. Fly-Fishing for Sharks is the result of his journey, a portrait of America on the water, fishing rod in hand.

To explore the cultures of fishing, Louv joined a bass tournament on Lake Erie and got a casting lesson from fly-fishing legend Joan Wulff He angled with corporate executives in Montana and fly-fished for sharks in California. He spent time with fishing-boat captains in Florida, the regulars who fish New York City's Hudson River, and a river witch in Colorado. He teamed secrets of fishing and living from steelheaders in the Northwest, Bass'n Gals in Texas, and an ice-fisher in the North Woods. Along the way, he heard from one of Hemingway's sons what it was like to fish with Papa and from Robert Kennedy, Jr., how fishing changed his fife.

As he describes the eccentricities, obsessions, and tribulations of dedicated anglers, he also uncovers the values that unite them. He reveals the healing qualities of fishing, how it binds the generations, how the angling business has grown, and how the future of fishing is threatened. But most of all, Fly-Fishing for Sharks is about the unforgettable characters Louv meets on the water and the stories they tell. From them, Louv learns about our changing relationship with nature, about a hidden America -- and about himself.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"When you're fly-fishing for sharks," observes Richard Louv from an 18-foot aluminum boat 12 miles off the coast of San Diego doing just that, "the line between lunacy and sanity is pretty thin." The truth is, most anglers, whatever they're fishing for, live fairly close to that line, and it's that proximity that leads Louv on a provocative quest. "The waters we fish, and how we fish, reflect larger political, ethical, even spiritual issues," he writes. "How shall we reconnect to nature? How should we treat fellow creatures of other species? How do we hold fast to what is old, timeless, and slow?"

As he travels from the Pacific to the Atlantic and the Gulf Coast to the frozen lakes of Northern Michigan, Louv ponders the ways and whys of pretty much the whole teeming democracy of rods and reelers--fly-fishers, ice-fishers, big-game fishers, guides, tournament bassers, even poachers--and their impact on American culture and the environment. He heads out into streams, lakes, and oceans with them, attends expos with them, buys bait with them, and sits down in coffee shops with them to better understand who they are, what lures them, what they take from the waters, and what they give back. He meets a marvelous group of players, among them the sons of Ernest Hemingway and R.F.K.; fly-fishing's incomparable first lady, Joan Wulff; and the less well-pedigreed, too, like a Texas woman who poignantly describes how bass fishing saved her life after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer and her church shunned her because she was a lesbian. He explores how fishing has traditionally tied together generations--including those of his own family--and even how finding a long-forgotten strain of trout in Southern California could halt future development in its tracks. Louv might easily have gotten skunked on such an ambitious fishing trip; instead, his journey reveals much about America and its love of angling. --Jeff Silverman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

A contributing editor at Parents, Louv (Childhood's Future) records his travels- fishing and mingling with like-minded enthusiasts-in this brisk, if somewhat sprawling, survey of fishing across America. As he hops from proletarian New Mexico waters to hazardous ice fishing in northern Michigan, then down South to the Florida Keys, Louv delves into diverse fishing subcultures. There are luxury fishing lodges, slick live-action TV fishing shows and regional and national tournaments where big money is the lure. Other subcultures include an underworld of poachers and the growing fraternity of catch-and-release anglers. Women have formed their own league, too, challenging a male-dominated stronghold; as part of his journey Louv went to Texas to interview Sugar Ferris, founder of Bass'n Gal, the national women's tournament and bass-fishing association, which had 33,000 members before its demise in 1998. (Several corporate sponsors withdrew support after some of the organization's members acknowledged that they were lesbians.) Louv hangs out with urban anglers on New York City's East River, meets Hemingway's fly-fishing son in Montana and plumbs "deep fishing," or transcendental immersion in nature, in Vermont. This hymn to fishing--the sport and mystique--is decked out with photographs of the people he met, and their catches. While doubting readers--like the author's wife, a vegetarian who sides with the fish, or his teenage son, who reluctantly joins him on some outings--may find that Louv's attempt to fathom the sport's spiritual dimensions smells fishy and that his justification of the sport's morality (fish don't feel pain) is a cop-out, his eye-opening odyssey will be pure bliss to anglers. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074320025X
• ISBN-13: 978-0743200257
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,544,650 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

VISIT www.RichardLouv.com
TAKE ACTION AT www.childrenandnature.org


Richard Louv is a journalist and author of eight books about the connections between family, nature and community. His newest book is The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder (Algonquin), which offers a new vision of the future, in which our lives are as immersed in nature as they are in technology. This future, available to all of us right now, offers better psychological, physical and spiritual health for people of every age.

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder (Algonquin), translated into 10 languages and published in 15 countries, has stimulated an international conversation about the relationship between children and nature. Louv is also the founding chairman of the Children & Nature Network at www.childrenandnature.org, an organization helping build the movement to connect today's children and future generations to the natural world. Louv coined the term Nature-Deficit Disorder™ which has become the defining phrase of this important issue.

In 2008, he was awarded the Audubon Medal, presented by the National Audubon Society. Prior recipients have included Rachel Carson, E. O. Wilson and President Jimmy Carter. Louv is also the recipient of the Cox Award for 2007, Clemson University's highest honor, for "sustained achievement in public service" and has been a Clemson visiting professor. Among other awards, Louv is the recipient of the 2008 San Diego Zoological Society Conservation Medal, the 2008 George B. Rabb Conservation Medal from the Chicago Zoological Society, and the 2009 International Making Cities Livable Jane Jacobs Award. He also serves as Honorary Co-chairman, with artist Robert Bateman, of Canada's national Children and Nature Alliance.

Louv has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Times of London, and other major publications. He has appeared on many national TV shows, including NBC's Today Show and Nightly News, CBS Evening News, ABC's Good Morning America, and NPR's Morning Edition, Fresh Air, and Talk of the Nation. Between 1984 and 2007 he was a columnist for The San Diego Union-Tribune and has been a columnist and member of the editorial advisory board for Parents magazine. Louv was an advisor to the Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World award program. He serves on the board of directors of ecoAmerica and is a member of the Citistates Group. He has appeared before the Domestic Policy Council in the White House as well as at major governmental and professional conferences, nationally and internationally, most recently as keynote speaker at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference.

He is married to Kathy Frederick Louv and the father of two young men, Jason, 29 and Matthew, 23. He would rather fish than write.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the best book I ever read!, June 28, 2000

By 

Mike Cooper - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fly-Fishing for Sharks: An American Journey (Hardcover)

Hi I am Mike Cooper and I'm 13 years old I loved reading Fly Fishing For Sharks. When I first got the book I thought that it was going to be very hard for me to read and take a while, but I finished the book in around a month. It was very interesting becuase I am from San Diego and I have fished at some of the lakes that the author fished at. I also learned a little bit about fishing. I think the most interesting thing about the book was all the interesting people that he would meet on his journey. This is a really good book and it is one of those that you can't put it down you just have to keep reading it. So if you like fishing or just like reading about interesting people this is well worth it and I recomend and buying it today.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rare Gem: Insightful, Humurous, Touching, April 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Fly-Fishing for Sharks: An American Journey (Hardcover)

As an avid fisherman and reader, I can tell you that one spends a lot of time pusuing the rare catch: The trophy fish or the unforgetable book. Suffice it to say - this book is a keeper! Louv's insights into the world of fishing, emotions, and the human psyche are poignant, insightful, and dead-on, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. I've shared this book with many non-fishing friends (for example a 60-something Nanny) - who loved it! Through extensive interviews and lots of fishing with the characters in his book, Richard Louv explores the deeper meaning that fishing and nature hold for these folks - and indeed for mankind. (Previous reviews likening his journey to Steinbeck or William Least Heat Moon are accurate) There are some wake-up calls here too: disappearing landscapes and children growing up detatched from their Mother Earth. I laughed, I cried, I bought a bunch and gave them as gifts. Here's my gift to you, gentle reader: Buy it for yourself and enjoy!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Louv Captures the "Love of the Game", May 22, 2000

By 

Lisa Tanner - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fly-Fishing for Sharks: An American Journey (Hardcover)

With out a doubt, one of the best books I've read--ever. Louv captures the true passion of his subject fly-fishermen (and women), then steps back and releases the stories of their spirited lives with the interpretation of a painter to canvas. As a daughter of one of the fly-fishermen Louv interviewed, I can say without hesitation, he revealed my father's knowledge and love of fishing in a way no one but a family member could.