All of the books needed to describe the fine art of fly fishing have already been written. If you are looking for instructions on how to cast, where to cast and when to cast put this down now. If you want to know the difference between a Royal Wulff and a Pheasant Tail please read Trout magazine or an old edition of Matching the Hatch. This is not so much a tale about fishing as it is about what happened in between the casts.

When I caught my first fish, a sunfish, I was as surprised as the creature that had been attracted to the worm on the other end of the line. I suppose I kept on...