A Cast in the Woods
A Story of Fly Fishing, Fracking, and Floods in the Heart of Trout Country
Published on 1. November 2018
Book
Hardback
192 pages
978-1-4930-3208-2 (ISBN)
Description
When angler and author Stephen Sautner bought a streamside cabin and some land in the heart of fly fishing country in the Catskill Mountains, he thought he had finally reached angling nirvana. Little did he know what loomed: a series of historical floods, a land rush over fracking for natural gas, and constant battles with invasive species, plagues of insects, and other pests. He takes on all of these threats - between casts for wild trout and other gamefish - and along the way gains a better understanding of stewardship and the interconnectedness between angling and the natural world.
Praise for A Cast in the Woods:
"New York State's ban on fracking was one of the great triumphs of modern environmentalism, and behind it lay a thousand individual stories of resistance. None has been better told than this one, by a worthy Catskills heir to the literary tradition of John Burroughs and a man who has earned his fishing."--Bill McKibben, author Radio Free Vermont
"If you love wild woods and wild trout, Sautner's word magic will transport you to the best of both. His battle to preserve them from a daunting array of natural and unnatural forces amuses even as it instructs and inspires." --Ted Williams, outdoor writer and environmental journalist
Praise for A Cast in the Woods:
"New York State's ban on fracking was one of the great triumphs of modern environmentalism, and behind it lay a thousand individual stories of resistance. None has been better told than this one, by a worthy Catskills heir to the literary tradition of John Burroughs and a man who has earned his fishing."--Bill McKibben, author Radio Free Vermont
"If you love wild woods and wild trout, Sautner's word magic will transport you to the best of both. His battle to preserve them from a daunting array of natural and unnatural forces amuses even as it instructs and inspires." --Ted Williams, outdoor writer and environmental journalist
Reviews / Votes
If you love wild woods and wild trout, Sautner's word magic will transport you to the best of both. His battle to preserve them from a daunting array of natural and unnatural forces amuses even as it instructs and inspires. -- Ted Williams, outdoor writer and environmental journalist New York State's ban on fracking was one of the great triumphs of modern environmentalism, and behind it lay a thousand individual stories of resistance. None has been better told than this one, by a worthy Catskills heir to the literary tradition of John Burroughs and a man who has earned his fishing. -- Bill McKibben, author Radio Free Vermont It's one thing to experience a river, and another level entirely to feel connected to a river. For the connected angler, the water is sacred... lifeblood for the soul, worth defending at all costs. A Cast in the Woods is an eloquent, honest, and beautifully written book that cuts to the conscience, and pays homage to a tiny, yet magnificent, stream that weaves into one of the most storied (yet fragile) river systems on the planet. -- --Kirk Deeter, Vice President/Editor-in-Chief, Trout Unlimited/TROUT magazine I'm a sucker for cabin memoirs (Walden, A Family Place, etc.). Sautner's book is a worthy standard-bearer of the genre. -- Monte Burke, Forbes This is more than a fishing book, but I'd be remiss if I didn't note that Sautner is perhaps the best writer on this sport today. I don't make this claim lightly; my collection of hunting and fishing books long ago passed from being a passion to sheer lunacy. Sautner gets it. He gets why we fish, the beauty of running water and native fish, the joy of the pursuit. -- Matthew L. Miller, The Nature Conservancy's Cool Green Science blogMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Guilford
United States
Publishing group
Rowman & Littlefield
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Illustrations
Illustrations; Black & White Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 218 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
440 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4930-3208-2 (9781493032082)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Stephen Sautner
A Cast in the Woods
A Story of Fly Fishing, Fracking, and Floods in the Heart of Trout Country
E-Book
02/2021
The Lyons Press
€15.81
Available for download
Persons
Ever since he saw his older brother lose an enormous summer flounder off a dock at the New Jersey Shore when he was 12 years old, Stephen Sautner has been trying to catch fish. Any fish. In 2007, he edited Upriver and Downstream, an anthology of fishing stories from the "Outdoors" column of The New York Times, and has been an active contributor to the column since 1994. His stories have also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Fly Rod & Reel, Wildlife Conservation, and Underwater Naturalist. Along with Sautner's 15 years of contributing to the NY Times, he is also the director of communications for the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo, where he publicizes the Society's conservation programs. He lives in Scotch Plains, NJ.