#Friday Reads – The Fly Fisherman’s Bucket List by Slim Randles

The Fly Fisherman’s Bucket List
Slim Randles
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Rio Grande Books (May 22, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1943681708
ISBN-13: 978-1943681709

BLURB – With this book, you see, it’s really a race to see how many of these hundred-plus top places to catch fish in America before you starve to death, because you’re having fun instead of working.

The fly fishing experts in each state steer you to their own hotspots, tell you when to fish and which flies work best. The rest is up to you. And remember, it isn’t nice to drown worms!

Take this trip with a true outdoors person: Randles has packed mules in the High Sierra, competed as a roper and bulldogger in rodeo, guided hunters in Alaska and New Mexico, and drove a team in the first Iditarod Dogsled Race. Join him for some real fun!

REVIEW – This book lives up to the hype in the blurb, and it even has something for those non-fishing type people. There are lovely pictures of the lakes and streams in all of the great fishing places mentioned in the book, and the scenery in many of those pictures is stunning. The pictures of the different kinds of flies one would use for fly fishing, are quite interesting and educational. Just in case you need to know the difference between a Light Cahill dry fly and Luther’s Floozie for your next game of Trivial Pursuit.

By the way, Luther’s Floozie looks like a cross between a caterpillar and a red feather boa, so the name is apt.

Those of you who regularly visit my blog, know that I am a big fan of Slim’s writing. I truly enjoy his easy, relaxed style, and his books are very entertaining, as well as informative. The reader can always count on a little humor, or sometimes more than a little humor, and great stories about everyday people.

In The Fly Fisherman’s Bucket List, Slim introduces us to the nun in the 15th century who was the first to write about fly fishing, telling Brits about the best flies to use for catching fish. As Slim relates, “And she knew her stuff, too, because when she wasn’t nunning around in a wimple, she was having a religious experience with a fly rod.”

Slim equates fishing with “going to church in the great outdoors,” and I heartily agree.

The informational sections of the book are broken up by sections titled “foof-ee-doof.” I looked and looked for some explanation of what the section titles mean, but darned if I could find one. Near as I can tell – see, I’m adapting to Slim’s style LOL – it has something to do with telling stories on oneself. Each one relates a funny experience Slim had while fishing or hunting, and they are as much fun to read as the columns Slim shares with us on Wednesdays.

I encourage you to try his books. They are great to have on your bedside table to read a section or two before going to sleep. But then, you might end up reading more than one or two.

Visit Slim’s Amazon Author Page to see all of his books. He’s written quite a few, so I’m sure you can find one to suit your reading tastes.

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That’s it for me for the weekend. I will be at an Arts & Crafts show all day on Saturday, then have my writer’s meeting on Sunday. Do you have big plans for the weekend? I hope you have a grand time, whatever you will be doing.