This article was originally published on The Upland Soul.
Howdy. After three years of writing, one year of editing, four years of re-editing and two years of more editing, I have finally completed my book, Threat Lev Fly Fishing in the 21st Century. Today’s the on-sale date and you can now buy it wherever books are sold, so I suppose now is as good as any other time to share a few thoughts about my newly-birthed child — what it is, what it isn’t, and why you should either take a stab at it or not come near it with a ten-foot pole.
Ostensibly, this book is a collection of rather scattered essays, with the outdoors being the common thread that binds them. One doesn’t have anything to do with fishing, and two (at least) are set not in my beloved backyards of the high Western deserts, but instead deep in an East Coast people’s republic, not incredibly far from some of the Pennsylvania limestone creeks that birthed much of the American fly fishing tradition. Despite these brief detours down the meandering backroads of my mind, the book still makes its spiritual home in the vacant sagebrush flats of the Great Basin.
Now in 2026 and with the means of media production now readily accessible by the proletariat, the world doesn’t need any more music, any more movies, any more books… and certainly not any more books rehashing the process of catching fish. The best minds that our niche has to offer — Geirach, McGuane, Harrison — they’ve already done this better than anyone else can (or will). So, and with no small amount of what could be considered hubris — my goal for Fly Fishing in the 21st Century was a little different. It’s not straightforward, it probably fails to answer any of the questions I posited… but there’s enough meat there that intrepid readers can sink their teeth it and not hit bone.
As with many other undertakings in life, the process is (part of) the point for this writer. The first draft was hammered out on a 1956 Royal Quiet de Luxe, almost Kerouac-style; no paragraph breaks and sparse punctuation, a syntax influenced by the the machine and medium itself. Maintaining the flow of the first draft throughout the editing process was of utmost importance in allowing the work to keep its original and — hubris — unique character.
With uncountable excellent volumes written about some of the greatest fly fishing water on our continent, precious little exists on the fathom-wide streams in that curious sagebrush sea whose principal familiars are black baldys, sagehens, buckaroos, and hunters. Rather than being an instruction manual for its exploration, Fly Fishing in the 21st Century is more of a blurry fever-dream, gonzoesque tribute to its native trout, public lands, solitude, and opportunity for introspection.
I didn’t write this for everyone, but instead those who feel a little tug on their heartstrings when they think of these desolate, honest little Western bluelines… and who have to balance a life in the outdoors with all of the other overhead that one is required to attend to in order to simply maintain stasis in today’s world.
If none of this appeals to you, skip it.
Fly Fishing in the 21st Century, published by The Upland Soul, is now available wherever books are sold including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
