John gierach quotes

2024 was a solemn year for mourning the loss of several notable fly fishing personalities. Casting a pall of sadness over the entire fly rod community, the memory of Cathy Beck, Lani Waller, Doug Swisher, and Bob Popovics will live on in the hearts of all who knew them. In a way, they represent the first wave of well-known individuals responsible for popularizing the pursuit of catching fish on a fly wherever they swim, and their contributions to the integrity of the sport will always be appreciated.

But not to diminish the accomplishments of these prominent figures, perhaps it was the sudden death of John Gierach that truly emphasized the significance of their loss. Since John was widely known for his many books of fly fishing stories, his death seemed to touch so many anglers on a very personal level. And because John was only a few months younger than I, and that our lives followed similar career paths, for me there is a certain “For Whom the Bell Tolls” aspect to his passing as well.

John Gierach was born in Illinois but raised in the Minneapolis area. John’s interest in writing began in high school, and after minoring in English during his college years, he headed out West in 1969. Working at a silver mine after ending up in Lyons, Colorado, he fished as much as possible while eventually realizing there was an opportunity to write about his fly fishing experiences and get paid for the effort.

Then, from writing articles for fly fishing magazines to doing a little guiding to meeting up with well-known fly-tier AK Best and tying flies professionally to eventually authoring a series of entertaining books of fly fishing stories, John was able to piece together an admirably creative career in fly fishing. His offbeat meanderings and the words they inspired not only nurtured what the sport has become these days, but his life also spanned directly back to fly fishing’s romantic past.

From a reading standpoint, I was mostly influenced by Patrick McManus, Nick Lyons, Steve Raymond and Robert Traver a.k.a. John Voelker over the years. But it wasn’t until the popularity of Gierach’s first book Trout Bum in the late 80s that I realized how much a broader angling public enjoyed this genre of fly fishing literature as well. Although there was a proliferation of “how-to” and “where-to” fly angling books then, John’s work addressed the “why-to” niche that many publishers were reluctant to print those days. Not only did John mainstream the art of telling fly fishing stories and related musings, his witty, easy-going writing style captured the essence of why many of us are drawn to rivers with a fly rod in the first place.

After reading Trout Bum during my trout bumming days, his words significantly validated my quirky approach to existence. My wandering the West while looking for trout coincided with John’s quest during the same time period, and searching for ways to make a trout bum lifestyle work financially was the reason I ended up in Montana building rods for Winston in the early 80s. Although I had not yet read anything by Gierach at that point, I now often wonder how many anglers who did eventually read his books actually dreamed of being John Gierach, especially once fly fishing became popularized during the 90s.

I only met John once. It was at the Denver Fly Fishing Show during the mid 90s and we had a meaningful discussion about rod building. It seems he was writing about bamboo rods at the same time I was building them. His connection to well-known Colorado cane rod builder Mike Clark influenced his book Fishing Bamboo that was published in 1997. In part, the renewed interest in bamboo rods during those years was directly linked to John’s writing. I was always hopeful that he would drop by our Winston bamboo facility, or even later at our Sweetgrass shop, but that never happened. I did, however, fish a couple rivers here and there that John had recently visited, and I just missed him by a day in British Columbia on one of his favorite cutthroat tributaries to the Elk River. Wherever he roamed, it seemed, there was always a spirit he left behind.

It was because his many publications stimulated interest in “why-to” books that I ventured into the same realm of writing during the early 2000s. Although most editors were not moved to publish such books despite Gierach’s success, I experienced modest interest in the books I authored that my brother’s publishing company released at that time thanks to the groundwork laid by John. Since then, the door has opened for many other writers to share their thoughts and experiences as John did; and because of him, the genre has expanded considerably these days.

Gierach’s true talent though was his ability to take the reader along with him on all his fishing ventures. Whether it be catching a trout, sitting around a campfire, or just musing about the qualities of a bamboo rod, reading his books is just like being there with him, and maybe that is exactly why so many around the world have been touched by his loss. There is an aspect of immortality for any writer, artist, or craftsman in the work they leave behind, and John Gierach will live on in the captivating words that will forever define his legacy. For many, he will always be the ultimate trout bum.