Remembering John Gierach
Recalling the shaper of a Platonic fly-fishing reality, in his own words
CFS crew: It was near press-send-time at CFS HQ last week when I learned John Gierach had died at 78 of a heart attack.
Widely acknowledged as America's best living fly-fishing writer, Gierach built an archetype of the fly angler as outsider and seeker, a contemplative semi-recluse elevated above the scrum. He wrote over 20 books, almost all collections of essays, centering on one simple thread: What a strange and powerful thing it is, to be alive and doing this.
His first compilation, 1984's Trout Bum, grabbed hold of the zeitgeist and wouldn't let go. Gierach's droll individualist style and refusal to take the dramatic, macho subject of fishing as seriously as he should became his calling card.
