Rivers of Dreams: Fly Fishing Stories

A.J. Pell is rector of Holy Trinity Cathedral in the Diocese of New
Westminster, British Columbia.

A long-established literary form in English is “travel
writing”—books and articles by literate writers with a gift for
describing, not details and costs, but the experience of travelling.
George Woodcock, John Fraser, and Jan Morris are numbered among such
writers. A relatively unknown twin of travel writing is found in the
world of fly fishing. For decades various authors have written evocative
narratives of their fly-fishing experiences. Some, such as Roderick
Haig-Brown and Norman McLean, have been discovered and appreciated
outside the tightly knit fly-fishing community.

Now Robert Lyon, who writes of fly-fishing experiences from his home in
the San Juan Islands, has drawn together 14 fly-fishing stories (12
reprints and 2 originals). To read these stories is to experience the
joys and disappointments, the mishaps, and the awe that the observant
fly fisher discovers in the course of “going fishing.” A great
river, perhaps in size of fish or in sheer beauty, in volume of water or
in cathedral-like silences, is the tie that connects these stories.
Roderick Haig-Brown is here twice; other contributors include Nick
Lyons, Zane Gray, and Jerry Dennis. This book demonstrates the
increasing closeness between fly fishing and literature. Perhaps the
grace of these stories will draw readers to fly fishing and fly fishers
to reading.