Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi

Allen H. Soroka is assistant law librarian at the University of British
Columbia Law Library and an avid sportsman.

At first blush, Lines on the Water seems to be about fish and fishing,
about the absurd and self-inflicted agony of wading a torrent of icy
water to find a fish. Further reflection reveals that the author is a
thoughtful and often profound commentator on more than the simple
fishing life on the Miramichi.

Richards recounts his own experiences of learning to fish as a boy in
New Brunswick. He introduces us to old Alvin Simms, who was evicted from
his fish camp by nonresidents who told him that without riparian rights
he could not fish his hole; his friend Peter McGrath who, when asked if
he was hyperactive, pointed to the river boiling with salmon and
replied, “No, the fish are.” He tells us about his uncles and others
who took the rich Americans to the fabled New Brunswick salmon,
sometimes carrying them across the rivers on their backs. Lines on the
Water is a marvelous book of tales and revelations straight from the
heart of a New Brunswick fly fisherman.