Fishing with Simon

Matt Hartman is a freelance editor and cataloguer, running Hartman Cataloguing, Editing and Indexing Services.

Lynch’s political writing has long been held in high esteem. His
syndicated columns have informed and amused Canadians for more than
three decades. His occasional contributions to the world of fishing lore
have also delighted his readers, even as they have (he claims)
nonplussed his editors. This delightful collection of anecdotes blends
Lynch’s ironic and understated wit with his favorite subject. His
fishing companions are mostly fellow journalists, sprinkled liberally
with politicians like Brian Mulroney and Simon Reisman (who supplies his
first name for the book’s title). Reisman, in fact, is an avid
fisherman; his penchant for time spent on the water might (for some)
explain some of the shortcomings of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade
Agreement. He is also almost as good a storyteller as Lynch, and his own
reminiscences take up a good part of the book. When asked by Lynch about
Mordecai Richler’s references to salmon fishing in the novel Solomon
Gursky Was Here, Reisman terms them “very amateurish and a little bit
naive, and the story about loading the fish with stones to make them
weigh more, he got gossiping with guides.” One can read Fishing With
Simon as much for the cast of characters as for the fishing; it seems to
this reviewer that most fine books about the sport have that in common.
Recommended.