River song sonic screwdriver

River Songs is rich with bracing authentic generous stories writing that revels in language and spirit Avoiding most of fly fishing s clich s the romantic elegies the Moby Dick like conquests the play by play detailing a victory over a fish Steve Duda instead offers pieces that breathe lived experience reveal vulnerabilities and convey a broad perspective of what it means to have a long run with a tight crew Duda is interested in what has been learned out there on the river what is it about this ridiculous activity that connects us to this planet makes us human gives us hope River Songs focuses on the in between moments and the unexpected revelations awe fear frustration doubt joy that are as much a part of fishing as tying knots and chucking flies Readers ride along with Duda in battered pickup trucks fish between jobs look longingly at unfished famous rivers while touring with a country punk band and wonder how a fishing trip led to getting a tooth pulled while being surrounded by trash talking friends They will find beauty discovery heartbreak good dogs and the wonder of nature within the expanse of Northwest landscapes and beyond River Songs Moments of Wild Wonder in Fly FishingHere s my review for Flyfisherman Magazine It s easy to forget why we first came to the river with a fly rod we get consumed by counting numbers of fish comparing ourselves to anglers or what epic hatch or big fish we re missing out on based on who we follow on social media We can easily lose the connection we feel for the places and people that give us so much joy and wonder and even at times frustration Steve Duda in River Songs Moments of Wild Wonder in Fly Fishing his first collection of essays reminds us with attentive care to language and gloriously boisterous storytelling why we keep coming back to rivers to be part of a family of anglers that love the mysteries of river bends and deep friendships built around plunge pools and campfires. River song real name In the opening essay Lessons Duda writes that fly fishing isn t just one thing which he with great prose and a knack for setting the hook at just the right moment shows us on each of the following pages This book isn t just a collection of fishing stories it s an exploration on what it means to be a good human a steward of this world and how a ridiculous activity like fly fishing can help us to be a generous friend point us toward excellence and encourage a profound and abiding love for this planet Reading this collection is as joyful as catching brook trout on Parachute Adams in May but it s also heady stuff that asks us to think about why we do what we do where we come from and how humans and rivers and fish all influence and impact each other Duda is a philosophizer as much as he is a bard and I ll sit around any fire he s at spinning his yarns Each chapter is separated by a river song that always seems to veer into the poetic These songs are beautiful little odes to flies we plucked out of our hats all the glorious fragrances of steelhead such as armpit ash ass bacon baked beans Band Aids bar floor barracuda who smell like cucumbers splashed with lemon a one sided conversation with a steelhead swinging bourbon sipping sage and even a sing along to Pressure Drop after landing a bonefish Each song has its own melody but each reminds us why we go to the stream and what a life without fly fishing would be Imagine not fishing Imagine no road trips No old pals No fires With similar energy and love of the lyrical as the great Brian Doyle Duda creates a rollicking rhythm and pace for this book by gathering unique insights and observations from his lifetime of fishing. River song springfield ohio Duda shows time and time again that fly fishing is indeed not just about catching fish but the people places ecologies and histories that make up every watershed we explore Ghosts is as much about carp fishing as it is a history lesson about dams the Lewis Clark Expedition and the flies that carp love His descriptions are keen biting and staggeringly honest On a long trip to Patagonia where he somehow has angered the fishing gods feels like a nasty strip of carpet lying by the highway and bananas have mysteriously found their way onto the boat Duda captures the hell we have all been in as anglers where everything that could go wrong seemingly does Yet in the end we find ourselves in the middle of nothing in the middle of everything because that s where fly fishing thankfully takes us It Pleases Me Loving Rivers is a love song to Port Angeles where everyone fishes and where Duda spends a whole season trying to find Raymond Carver who lived there until he was diagnosed with cancer passing away just a year later after moving just outside of town With the same ease as throwing a roll cast Duda takes us from a simple story about a fishing town and out into a deep river of literary criticism biography and meditation on fly fishing as escapism This piece explores our need for and love of distractions and takes us into the dark waters where we finally understand that sometimes even fishing cannot save us from the unfortunate events that life deals Duda is able to make anything into a lesson on humanity and how to be a good angler without ever coming across as didactically dogmatic We read these essays for the same reason we go fishing with a good buddy because it s a great way to spend time and hopefully learn something new about the world or ourselves One of my favorite essays Burning Pram considers the fact that ultimately we all fish alone so we are stuck with the relentless chattering of our brains Yet fishing somehow knocks us out of our own way When we go to the water we begin to listen to notice This essay for me feels like an exemplification of that great Mary Oliver quote Attention is the beginning of devotion Yes we go to the rivers to catch fish but to really fish we must find those moments that free us enough from our daily doldrums to rejoice in a communal experience with others and the vibrant lives around us This is what constitutes real life sharing love and joy Ultimately Duda realizes when we fish we inevitably find community and go to awesome places with our friends and make friends with places that are awesome Yes yes we do. River song saying yes Steve Duda is a master storyteller and these essays are full of his unique humor and sharp wit River Songs is a book much like Russell Chatham s Dark Waters that I ll always keep in my truck so I can read it while sitting on my tailgate eating an Italian sub waiting for sulphurs to hatch It ll be the book I give to all my fishing buddies for their birthdays it ll be the book I return to again and again to remind myself why I spend so much of this life staring at blue lines on maps and sitting next to a good friend streamside trying to read something as mysterious and elusive as water English River Songs by Steve Duda is a collection of the author s river stories highlighting various rivers he has fished and insights into river history and conservation The stories illustrate how important rivers are and their majesty as well as the authors personal journey through life whilst fly fishing I received a free ARC via NetGalley for this book Thank you to NetGalley publisher and author English