Photo: Matt Guymon / Freestone Rivers Photography.
It’ds been a while, October 3rd, that renowned author and fly fisher, John Geirach passed way. John Gierach’s authorship wasn’t like fly fishing authorships are most. Yet he had quite an impact on the fly fishing community. Perhaps not the best known of authors, but a unique one.
John Gierach on a fishing trip in Frying Pan together with AK Best. The photo is taken at Roy Palm’s house on a campsite – a wellknown spot for many readers of Gierach’s books. Photo by Søren Glerup.
His books didn’t contain much technical fishing, casting and fly tying. If you’re after a classic “how-to-catch-trout-book”, don’t go to library for a John Gierach book. Girach’s books were of a quaint, observant character – not so much regarding the trout, but more the experiences, the friendships and the way life reflects on fly fishing and how fly fishing reflects on life.
His most well known book is most likely “Sex, Death and Fly Fishing” from 1990, but his authorship began in 1977 with “Signs of life” an ended in 2020 with “Dumb Luck and the Kindness of Strangers”. I think the titles says a lot about the contents of the book and Gierach’s unique writing style. Most of his books are collections of smaller essays.
Although it’s late we wanted to pay this small tribute to an author who’s set his unique mark on fly fishing though a series of books that are so much more than “how-to, where-to” and much more “why-to”.
