FISH ON, FISH OFF: THE MISADVENTURES AND ODD ENCOUNTERS OF THE SELF-TAUGHT ANGLER. By Stephen Sautner.

(2016) 2018 1st paperback edition. 8vo (129 x 210mm). Ppxiv,178. Sepia frontispiece photograph, watercolour vignettes by the author.

This book "is a well-guided fishing trip. It is also a tonic and antidote. I have spent decades reading and editing copy about, say, brick-heavy brook trout the colour of Canadian sunsets that always slide into landing nets just as barbless flies slip from their jaws. And there have been way too many silver bonefish that streak across golden flats and are invariably brought to hand with no mention of such realities as: the strands of white slime dangling from the leader or the broken rod tip that preceded a sloppy cast... Along with good [style] sparingly applied, (this book) provides us with something we've longed for even more - unvarnished truth presented with wit and humor." (From the Foreword by Ted Williams). The chapters are grouped into the following sections: Early, spastic, casts; Snags; Streamside hazards; Catching the creeps; Blood knots; In foreign waters; Later, graceless casts.