Moon Pulled Up an Acre of Bass, The: A Flyrodder's Odyssey at Montauk Point (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "THE AIR SMELLS SALTY and grassy and flowery all at once..." (more)
Key Phrases: autumn run, flats skiff, double haul, Long Island, New York, East End (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The East Coast migratory striped bass has the same trans-species attachment with Long Islanders as the blue crab does with the Chesapeake region, and the cod with New Englanders; striper fishing is nowhere more exciting, or more socially complicated, than in early fall off Montauk, New York. After the summer tide of celebrities and vacationers leaves the beaches, local sportfishers form their own society around the parade of southbound migrations. Not the average "hook and bullet" reporter, Kaminsky took a sabbatical from his New York Times column to fly-fish Montauk Point through the October peak, lured by the life fantasy of one dream fly-fishing season, an angling "walkabout into something perfect and outside of time." The tides of his obsession with the fish in this place occasionally carry him way offshore into social history, local color and ecology of the bass. The real prose action is on the shallow flats of Great Peconic Bay and in the jockeying among guide boats and surf casters for prime casting positions for "blitzes" of feeding 40-inch bass. Kaminsky (whose cookbook, Elements of Taste, is due out from Little, Brown in October) is neither the first nor the most stylish voice for this fish and this place (the Montauk bass fishery has its own shelf in angling literature, which includes John Cole's Striper and Peter Matthiessen's Men's Lives). Nonetheless, most Eastern fly rodders will revel in Kaminsky's walkabout and feel as wistful as he does when the cold northeast winds finally put down the fish in November.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In this beguiling memoir, New York Times sportswriter Kaminsky recounts how he lived an angler's dream: fishing every fishable day at the peak of striped-bass season at Montauk Point on Long Island's East End. When Kaminsky wasn't pursuing bass with fly tackle from a boat, he was indulging his passion for cooking (while staying at the summer home of the late chef Pierre Franey) and observing life in the Hamptons. Saltwater and freshwater fly fishing differ greatly, and Kaminsky proves especially adept at explaining the differences, as well as offering sound advice for freshwater anglers hoping to succeed in saltwater. This thoroughly readable account works both as a fishing book and as a travel memoir: Kaminsky's sharp ear for dialogue is on display in his character sketches of the region's anglers, some of whom seem to have walked out of the pages of To Have and to Have Not. Recommend this either to aficionados of fishing lit or to anyone with an interest in the Hamptons. John Rowen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (August 22, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786867698
• ISBN-13: 978-0786867691
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #741,462 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars flyfishing, New York style, August 29, 2001

By	Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

While it is certainly the case that flyfishing has given rise to more good writing than any sport other than baseball, it is also the case that the pleasures of this literature tend to be somewhat refined. Flyfishing is, for the most part, the pursuit of the leisure classes, the rest of use spinning reels to baitfish or to go after bass with a variety of garish lures. We associate bass fishing with the sound of overpowerful boats and the sour smell of stale beer. Flyfishing gives off a faint whiff of soggy tweed, mixed with pipe tobacco and perhaps a fine brandy. Your ne'er-do-well uncle bass fishes, your successful granddad flyfished. All of which makes Peter Kaminsky's new book something of a rarity; kind of a more muscular, less cultured, less aristocratic, flyfishing memoir.
In large part this is owing to the setting that Kaminsky has chosen; no trips to Idaho or Montana here; no Australian Outback or Scottish Highlands; instead he spends the late Summer/early Fall out at Montauk Point, Long Island, fishing with friends and family, guides and sportsmen, locals and commercial fisherman for stiped bass, albacore, and the like. Both the type of fishing--for bigger fish, on rough seas, battling surfcasters and other boats--and the crowded and competitive conditions make this much different than the typical pastoral treatise on flyfishing. It's a very New York kind of fishing going on here, democratic and combative.
Beyond the unusual milieu, the book is a must read for the quality of Kaminsky's prose.... Fall's just around the corner now, and if you can't get to Montauk, this book's the next best thing.
GRADE : A

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great travelogue capturing the 'season', October 11, 2001

By	mike shauck (beverly hills, MI United States) - See all my reviews

Very readable account of the striper fishing frenzy in the fall at the tip of LI. As a (former) windsurfer I could relate to the pilgrimages you make to the right places at the right times to take part in your passion. Combine this with someone who knows what's important in life and knows how to write--and you've got a good book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read for a non-fisherperson, September 27, 2001

By	"marionrose" (New York, ny United States) - See all my reviews

A great read. I'm not a fisherman and in fact I've never gone fishing but this book is filled with such natural and lyrical beauty that I (and other non-fishing folk) could fully appreciate the wonderful portrait of Montauk and its people that Kaminsky has drawn. I may never pick up a flyrod but I will (and have) heartily recommend(ed) this book to the most stubborn land-lubber.