An urban fly fisherman's journal about exploring the Wissahickon Creek and Schuylkill River in northwest Philadelphia, approaching by bike and entering in knee-high rubber boots. Along the way, the reader gains insights into the Wissahickon-Schuykill ecosystem, the species that populate the waters, the flies that attract them, even the waterway's place in American history. The diversity of genre means you'll never be bored: e.g., horror ("A Very Scary Fish Story"), fantasy ("Fat Brown Pigskin"), and lines of the author's poetry ("Fishing Without a Net"). That penultimate chapter contains some fine musings on the morality of catch-and-release fishing. But the lesson could not be more wonderfully taught than by the example given of assistance rendered to an injured smallmouth bass, recorded in the chapter entitled "A River Revival." I would be remiss if I did not mention the surprisingly fine tactile and visual experience provided by this slim paperback: high-quality "semi-gloss" paper, wide margins, wide vertical spacing of text, a footer border with title on even pages, chapter title and page number on odd pages, and illustrated by dozens of color photos and handsome graphics. What a pleasure to read!
