Story: We Said We Were Going Fishing

John Gierach casting on Frechman’s Pond. Photo courtesy of Tim Schulz.

Since John Gierach’s passing about a week ago, we’ve had plenty of wonderful stories shared about the impact he made on so many lives. Tim Schulz’s story, over at Hatch Magazine, is worth the read. It’s about a time when he got to fish with John Gierach on John Voelker’s Frenchman’s Pond. You might better recognize John Voelker by his pen name, Robert Traver.

Fishing with John Gierach at a place where Voelker went to fish and observe the natural world has got to be high up there on a lit of angling accomplishments, and Schulz’s great storytelling puts you right alongside he and John.

A short excerpt from the story is as follows:

“The long and tortuous road leading to Frenchman’s crests on a rocky ridge just above the modest cabin. Once there, I parked my truck in a small clearing adjacent to a sign that proclaimed this to be a Bamboo Zone.

“‘I’d like a photograph of this to show A.K.,” John said as he walked toward the sign. Since he began fishing with an 8-foot, three-piece, 7-weight Ed M. Hunter bamboo fly rod, John Gierach hadn’t needed placards or signs to tell him that every pond, river or lake was a Bamboo Zone. Under normal circumstances, I suspect John would have moderate-to-severe disdain for a sign instructing a person how they could or could not fish. This was not a normal circumstance.”

You can read the full story here.