Fish Like You Mean It

From the golf-course ponds of Tidewater, Virginia, to the vacant uplands of North Dakota, to the windswept headlands of Alaska, David Zoby takes us on a contemplative tour of fishing and hunting destinations. His dogs come along too. Fish Like You Mean It is eleven thoughtful essays on the art of fly fishing, bird hunting, and living on gas-station coffee. Plucked from the very best outdoor journals-Gray's Sporting Journal, American Angler, The Flyfish Journal-these essays sparkle like sunlight on your favorite trout stream. "I've fished and hunted all of my life and written about these subjects for decades. Dave Zoby's essays are some of the freshest writing I've seen in some time." - Don Thomas, author of To All Things a Season "From the Mid-Atlantic to Alaska and through the grasslands in between, these essays range over the topography of a nation and follow the contours of a life. This collection holds a place in a tradition that spans from Thoreau to the present. In this book, you will not find endorsements of gear or tips on where to locate trout. You will find something of greater value-moments of transcendence in the field and on the water: '... falling into the prairie ... steer beaten dirt ... dust devil rising ... the tide gone out forever.' In language both poignant and revealing, David Zoby leads us on a journey of reflection and discovery." - Chad Hanson, author of Trout Streams of the Heart
"Dave Zoby is first and foremost, a writer, stylist, and storyteller. He is also a passionate hunter, conservationist, fly fisherman, and dog man. In Fish Like You Mean It, he brings these skills and passions together in elegant essays that speak to the frustrations, absurdities, triumphs, and joys that make up a life afield. Always honest, never pretentious, Dave Zoby is one of our finest essayists." - Henry Chappell, author of At Home on the Range with a Texas Hunter and Silent We Stood