The Believer: A Year in the Fly Fishing Life

The author of the instant fishing classic The Optimist wades into deeper waters and shares new wisdom, humor, and experience in seven extraordinary fly-fishing expeditions that mark one year in his journey through the middle part of life when worldly demands increase even as fishing continues to beckonand must be pursued.

In David Cogginss previous book, The Optimist, he tackles the techniques of fly fishing and meditates on its virtues, recounting his triumphs and frustrations. Now, in The Believer, he deftly mixes travel, local cultures, further fishing challenges (some knee-buckling in their disappointment), and details his own experience as life and love crowd his time to fish. Self-consciouslyand self-deprecatinglyCoggins embarks on seven far-flung fishing voyages, away from screens and social media, not answering his phone, reveling in humanitys undying yearning for a quest, for the rituals and rites of passage that mark transition. For David, these journeys not only showcase his skill as an anglerincluding to Norway, Scotland, Spain, Cuba, and Argentina, as well as road trips to Wyoming, Tennessee, and the Catskillsthey also signal the end of his fly-fishing youth. But that doesnt mean that David will sell all his rods and hang up his hat; rather, that his relationship with his fly-fishing obsession will evolve. And hes okay with thatmostly, especially if he can catch an elusive salmon or a ferociously strong tarpon or the mysterious and almost invisible bonefish.

The Believer is a humble, humorous call for the journey that is part of the destination, where the search for greater self-awareness leads to patience, observation, and endurance. And, since this is fly fishing, after alltheres always the possibility of abject failure and leaping, glorious reward.

Wry, entertaining, thoughtful, and relatable, The Believer will hook both anglers and non-anglers alike. See more