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For thousands of years, the art of sport fishing has fascinated and engaged humankind. To Turhan Tirana, the noblest form of the sport is fly-fishing, a pursuit that at its best can bring one close to the meaning of life itself.
In Fly Fishing: A Life in Mid-Stream, he weaves memories and anectdotes to reflect upon his remarkable life as a fly-fisherman. As a boy he caught his first trout in the upper reaches of Virginia's Rapidan River. His love of the sport has taken him from Montana's Yellowstone River to such far-away places as Macedonia and Slovenia.
With wit and humor, the veteran fisherman shares his most memorable catches, in which intuition often overcame lack of experience. He describes the trials and rewards of fishing with a spouse and the pleasure of introducing his children to the sport. With unflagging enthusiasm, he chronicles the history of fly-fishing, including some of the some of its most unforgettable practitioners, among them: Dame Juliana Berners, the 15th-century prioress who wrote the classic treatise on fly-fishing: Theodore Gordon, known as the "father" of American fly-fishing: and President Herbert Hoover, who said that "All men are equal before fishes."
Here are tales of fish hooked and sometimes landed; a look at the fascinating river life of trout and salmon; an examination of the biology of an aquatic insect hatch and an appreciation of the artistry of imitation flies carefully crafted from feathers and fur. Tirana also reports on current movements to reclaim fly-fishing waters including efforts to save the Atlantic Coast striped bass, once near extinction. California's cutting-edge wild trout management, and the ongoing rescue of Montana's Big Blackfoot River.
More than merely a memoir of a life in mid-stream, Fly Fishing is a celebration of a timeless sport. This enriching collection of reflections and essays recalls the simple pleasures of angling, and, in so doing, captures the essence of one man's life. For Turhan Tirana, with more than half a century spent in pursuit of a sport that requires patience and perseverance above all, it is the process, not the end result, that brings the most satisfying rewards of all.
Turhan Tirana began fly fishing as a boy on the Rapidan River in Virginia's Shenandoah Mountains. Since then, he has traveled around the world to follow the sport. Born in Switzerland, raised in Washington D.C., he now lives in Old Greenwich, Connecticut.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.