Rating: 
Summary: A picture is worth a thousand or so words
Review: Trout fishing is the most enjoyable thing I've ever experienced (yeah, even better than that!) Most of the books on trout lead you to believe that you have to achieve succeedingly higher levels of consciousness through concerted study of stream ecology, purchase of the most expensive equipment available, and years and years of practice and frustration in perfecting your casting skills. I've yet to see a book that simplifies the whole thing and tells you how you can wade into a stream in sneakers and shorts, armed with very little more than your rod, reel, and a few flies, and start catching fish right away. No, Prosek's book doesn't do any of that, but it hints at the essential simplicity of trout fishing. The illustrations are riveting and serve well as reference plates. The commentary is blessedly sparse and gets to the point. It's a truly beautiful book and an obvious labor of love. Since so much literary claptrap surrounds fly fishing, I would have to compare most books on the subject to "Ulysses", while Prosek has produced a haiku that couples art and science. (I'm about to gag at my own literary allusion!) If you want to get into the trout and fly obsession, buy this book for inspiration. Then, I guess I'll just have to write that book about cut-rate, simplified fly fishing as your next step!
| 
