Fly Punk - Issue 3

BOOK
REVIEW
― Richard Fieldhouse ―
H
ere at Fly Punk towers, we often receive things through
the post which are fly fishing related, you know
the score – things you ordered by completely forgot
about, this you need to hide from your other half! But the
other day we received a pre-release copy of a book which I
had been looking forward to reading. It’s a book of short stories
from Bill Stokes. Here’s a quote from the marketing blurb
for this book:
“Trout Friends and Other Riff-Raff is a compelling
memoir of short stories on fishing and outdoors. Further
it contains a never before published essay titled “Trout
Flounderers.” In these stories, popular Chicago Tribune
outdoor columnist Bill Stokes gives himself over to his
true passion, trout fishing. It is an activity, possibly a
madness, that moves him, time and again, to stand kneedeep
in cold and murky waters, offer himself up to clouds
of hungry mosquitoes, and attempt to keep from snagging
his line in overhanging limbs while trying to outwit a wily
rainbow or brook trout. And then remembering where the
car is parked. This is a work of literature compiled over
years of writing by Bill Stokes assisted by his grandson,
Paul Stokes (Audiobookreviewer.com) to bring to the world
both published and nonpublished writings that bring will
tears of laughter, melancholy and remembrance. Paul saw
the value and importance of sharing his grandfather’s
work with the new generation of readers and listeners.
Together they have collected his writings and brought
them to both e-book status and audio book.”
I love these types of books, ones where you can dip in and
out when you have a few minutes to spare, ideal “Poop
Fiction” so to speak.
Bill has a unique way over getting the stories to resonate
with the reader; one I especially liked was “Trout or Cows”.
Now, I’ve had a fair few ‘run-ins’ with Cows, and they are
not my favourite animal when encountered on the river
bank, I do remember hooking one once on a back cast,
that was interesting to say the least! But this story is more
about the pull of fishing over working for a living. If you
are working for a living, why not grab yourself a copy of
the audio book, at least that way you can listen to it on
the way to work, and get your fishing fix for the day. You
won’t regret it.
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Trout-Friendsother-Riff-Raff-Stories/dp/1542497353
44 | 45
www.fly-punk.com