John Gierach

John Gierach is an American author and freelance writer who lives in Larimer County, Colorado. He was born in Illinois in 1946.[1] In 1969, he moved to Colorado and began fishing nearly every day.[2] Taking up writing shortly thereafter, his books are based on his various fly fishing adventures all over the world, some of which take place with his friend, A.K. Best (Gierach frequently refers to Best as the "dryflyguru" due to Best's fly tying abilities).[3] A few of his works include The View from Rat Lake, Even Brook Trout Get the Blues, and the cult classic, Trout Bum, which popularized the term "trout bum." John also writes poetry and authored two books of poems.[1]

John Gierach
OccupationWriter
LanguageEnglish
Alma materFindlay College
GenreNarrative essays
SubjectFly-fishing
Notable worksThe View from Rat Lake
Even Brook Trout Get the Blues
Trout Bum
Notable awardsRoderick Haig-Brown Award from US Federation of Fly Fishers

John Gierach's archival collection can be found at Montana State University, as well as an oral history conducted by MSU pertaining to Gierach's life as an angler and an angling writer.[4] The collection includes his manuscripts, poetry, photographs, fishing logs, and general correspondence ranging from 1976-2014. John graduated from Findlay College in Ohio with a degree in Philosophy and a minor in English.[1]

Writing career

Gierach began writing professionally because he needed money. Starting out, he wrote contributory notes and features for the Fly Fisherman to pay his monthly rent. Prior to selling his work, Gierach had been writing consistently and felt that he could write as well as the angling authors who were getting published at the time.[5]

His work has appeared in Gray's Sporting Journal, Field & Stream, where he is a contributing author, and Fly, Rod, and Reel, where he was an editor at large. Previously, he wrote a column in the The New York Times. Gierach also writes columns for the Longmont Daily Times-Call, the monthly Redstone Review, and the quarterly publication TROUT for the non-profit Trout Unlimited.[6]

After making a name for himself in angling magazines, Gierach's work garnered attention from Sports Illustrated and the The Wall Street Journal, with the latter calling him "the voice of the common angler".[2]

Recognitions

Gierach was the 1994 recipient of the US Federation of Fly Fishers Roderick Haig-Brown Award. The award recognizes a fly fishing author whose work embodies the philosophy and spirit of Roderick Haig-Brown, particularly a respect for the ethics and traditions of fly fishing and an understanding of rivers, the inhabitants and their environments.[7] Gierach's interest and knowledge of the natural world is detailed in his publications, though he considers himself an "amateur" naturalist.[5]

In 2015, he was inducted into the Catskills Fly Fishing Hall of Fame. The criteria include, amongst other traits, that the inductee has made "significant contributions to the sport" by furthering aquatic habitat understanding, innovating fly fishing techniques, or furthering appreciation and knowledge of the sport.[2]

Selected bibliography

Sole works
  • Signs of Life (1977)
  • Fly-fishing the High Country (1984)
  • Trout Bum (1986)
  • The View from Rat Lake (1988)
  • Fly-fishing Small Streams (1989)
  • Sex, Death, and Fly-Fishing (1990)
  • Where the Trout Are All as Long as Your Leg (1991)
  • Even Brook Trout Get the Blues (1992)
  • Dances with Trout (1994)
  • Another Lousy Day in Paradise (1996)
  • Fishing Bamboo (1997)
  • Standing in a River Waving a Stick (1999)
  • Good Flies: Favorite Trout Patterns and How They Got That Way (2000)
  • Death, Taxes, And Leaky Waders: A John Gierach Fly Fishing Treasury (2000)
  • At the Grave of the Unknown Fisherman (2003)
  • The Fly Fishing Anthology (2004, contributor with Mallory Burton, Ernest Hemingway, and others)
  • Still Life with Brook Trout (2005)
  • Fool's Paradise (2008)
  • No Shortage of Good Days (2011)
  • All Fishermen are Liars (2014)
  • A Fly Rod of Your Own (2017)
  • Dumb Luck and the Kindness of Strangers (2020)
  • All the Time in the World (2023)

Gierach's introductions
  • A. K. Best's Fly Box: How to Tie the Master Fly-Tyer's Patterns
  • A. K. Best's Advanced Fly Tying: The Proven Methods and Techniques of a Master Professional Fly Tyer--37 Important Patterns
  • Dyeing and Bleaching Natural Fly-Tying Materials
  • Production Fly Tying - A Collection Of Ideas, Notions, Hints, & Variations On The Techniques Of Fly Tying

References
  1. Hultman, Heather (9 September 2019). "John Gierach Papers". Montana State University Archives and Special Collections.
  2. Catskills Fly Fishing Center and Museum (1 October 2015). "John Gierach". Catskills Fly Fishing Center and Museum.
  3. Ulf, Borjesson (6 November 2006). "A.K. Best, flugbindare". Flugfiske I Norden. 28.
  4. Gierach, John. Interview. By James Thull, 5 December 2014.
  5. Morgan, Lawrence E. (Spring–Summer 2008). "Trout fishing in America". Weber Journal. 24 (3).
  6. Deeter, Kirk (24 July 2019). "Trout magazine welcomes John Gierach and Bob White". Trout Unlimited.
  7. "Federation of Flyfishers Awards-Past Recipients". Archived from the original on 2010-06-20. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
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