A Cast in the Woods: A Story of Fly Fishing, Fracking, and Floods in the Heart of Trout Country

by Stephen Sautner

Overview

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 and would be able to fish whenever he felt like it. 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 caterpillars, 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493032099
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	09/01/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	1,016,424
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

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.
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. This has led him to the Falkland Islands where he cast for sea trout next to an active mine field, to the Zambezi River where three-ton elephants guarded pools filled with tiger fish and Nile crocodiles. 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.

Table of Contents

Foreword Verlyn Klinkenborg vii

Introduction: The Mutation of an Angler 1

Perfection 7

The Search 13

Fixing, upping 28

Fishing Journal: April 27 38

The Biggest Smallest Stream 42

Fishing Journal: May 7 54

Floods, Damn Floods, and Time to Call Noah 56

Fishing Journal: May 13 69

Build It, and They Will Rise 72

Fishing Journal: May 20 84

The Joys of Fishing and Fracking 88

Fishing Journal: May 25 99

My Beautiful Outhouse 103

Fishing Journal: June 22 113

The 100-Years Mouse War and Other Skirmishes 117

Fishing Journal: July 6 128

The Bird Hatch 132

Fishing Journal: August 12 140

The Last of the Woodsmen 144

Fishing Journal: August 28 152

Stream Walks, Night Walks 156

Fishing Journal: September 10 162

Coming and Going 165

Fishing Journal: October 18 172

The To-Do List 175

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Stephen Sautner’s previous book, Fish On, Fish Off: “Fish On, Fish Off” is a hilarious, engaging collection of everything the rest of us won’t admit—like fish that get away, not just usually but always; the unsung art of rod breaking; and catching fish only Sautner has heard of. How refreshing to read the memoirs of a weird fisherman—i.e., an honest one. —Ted Williams, Conservation Editor, Fly Rod & Reel "What a delicious basket of short, witty, perceptive, and memorable glimpses into Sautner's rich fishing life. Full of adventure—from New Jersey to Alaska—and hilarious misadventures, Fish On, Fish Off is a treat all fly fishers will love." —Nick Lyons, author of Fishing Stories, Spring Creek, Bright Rivers "From Cape Breton to Cuba to New Jersey, these personal and resonant fishing tales will keep your mind on the water when your body can't be. Sautner has written a vivid and beautiful kind of memoir through fishing and you'll enjoy being his companion!" —James Prosek, artist and author of Eels: An Exploration from New Zealand to the Sargasso of the World's most Mysterious Fish "Stephen Sautner's Fish On, Fish Off has everything you'd want to find in a book about the outdoors: adventure, humor, pathos, suffering, triumph, and plenty of fish. This book of essays proves once and for all that poetry is as much a part of fishing as a rod and reel." — Steven Rinella, author of The Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine, American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon, and Meat Eater: Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter. "These travels with a fishing rod reveal a whole new dimension to the world. And even when the underwater residents are not cooperating, there is always a tale to be reeled in." — Jeremy Wade, host of River Monsters

From the Publisher

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Ben McKibben