Fly Fishing: "Fumbling After Grace"

November 3, 2008 By: Marshall Cutchin

There are more than two or three wonderful quotes from Holly Morris’s 1997 essay on fly fishing literature in The New York Times, but this may be my favorite: “While baseball is among the sports (some might include golf here) that inspire a certain devotion, even fanaticism, fly-fishing leads its lovers into fundamental connections, inviting a slow dance with the whimsy of the natural world, a love affair with line and rhythm and simplicity. Angling delivers the wily spiritual satisfactions that come with giving yourself to something that offers only intangible payback.” The next time someone asks you “Why fly fishing?,” send them this link and suggest they buy a copy of the Jeffrey Pill/AMFF DVD. If those won’t hook them, nothing will.