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A modern tribute to an ageless pastime, and a practical guide to the art, philosophy, and rituals of fly fishing, by an expert, lifelong angler.
In The Optimist, David Coggins makes a case for the skills and sensibility of an enduring sport and shares the secrets, frustrations, and triumphs of the great tradition of fly fishing, which has captivated anglers worldwide.
Written in witty, keenly observed prose, each chapter focuses on a specific place, fish, and skill. Few individuals, for example, have the visual acuity required to catch the nearly invisible bonefish of the Bahamas flats. Or the patience to land the elusive Atlantic salmon, “the fish of a thousand casts,” in eastern Canada. Pursuing these challenges, Coggins, “a confirmed obsessive,” travels to one fishing paradise after another, including the great rivers of Patagonia, private chalk streams in England, remote ponds in Maine, and New York City’s Jamaica Bay. In each setting, he chronicles his fortunes and misfortunes with honesty and humor while meditating on how fishing teaches focus, inner stillness, and a connection to the natural world.
Perfect for the novice, the enthusiastic amateur, and the devoted angler alike, The Optimist offers a practical path toward enlightenment while providing a welcome escape into one of the world’s ancient pastimes.
David Coggins is the author of Men and Manners and the New York Times bestseller Men and Style. He writes about fly fishing for Robb Report and tailoring, drinking, and travel for numerous publications, including the Financial Times, Bloomberg Pursuits, and Condé Nast Traveler. Coggins lives in New York and fishes regularly in the Catskills, Wisconsin, and Montana.
Publisher: Scribner (May 4, 2021)
Length: 256 pages
ISBN13: 9781982152505
“Anyone interested in fly fishing or curious how the sport could possibly be of interest to anyone should hop to David Coggins’s excellent The Optimist."
—The New York Times
“Immersive, true, pitch-perfect, and a soon-to-be classic. Coggins is a fresh voice in the fly-fishing canon, a wry genius, and the perfect guide for angler and non-angler alike.”
—Chris Dombrowski, author of Body of Water
“To paraphrase an old saying: Writing about fly fishing is like dancing about architecture. It's nearly impossible to capture but David Coggins does it as well as anyone, and I thrilled to his adventures from England to Patagonia to America's great rivers.”
—Tom Rosenbauer, author of The Orvis Fly-Fishing Guide
“I’ve fished many of the rivers in this book but I hadn’t seen them run and shimmer the way they do in Coggins’s lively prose. What’s more, I’d given up on fishing, I don’t know why—maybe the world was too much with me; okay, let’s just say I’ve been preoccupied with ephemera rather than the eternal, which is what fly-fishing makes one confront. I closed this last chapter and said hell or high water, I was going to get back to the rivers and streams I’ve missed. There’s much to fall in love with in this world, and this book reminded me of that.”
—Doug Stanton, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Horse Soldiers
“The Optimist is a rueful, thoughtful and very funny examination of an elegant obsession. Coggins does a terrific job of evoking the joys of fly fishing and also the frustrations, which are inextricably linked. This is the best book I’ve read on fishing since Thomas McGuane’s The Longest Silence.”
—Jay McInerney
“Wonderfully written, consistently amusing, grand but never grandiose.”
—Lesley M.M. Blume, author of Fallout
“An excellent primer for the beginning fly angler and a lyrical reminder of all there is to love about the sport for even the most jaded of old hands.”
—Monte Burke, author of Lords of the Fly and Saban
"Coggins is a virtuoso. He has written a modern fly fishing classic."
—Oppstrøms
“A pure and extended love letter to fishing. . . . what grows on you and ultimately stays with you while reading The Optimist is his sheer exuberance and honesty. The real brotherhood of fishing might occasionally be about fishing triumphs, but just as often if not more, it is about failures. And we get streamside seats to all of Coggins’s."
—The Washington Free Beacon
“A wise, affectionate chronicle of a passion pursued.”
—Kirkus Reviews
"A lovely, ruminative book about a venerable sport. . . . Coggins’s enthusiasm for fly fishing is so infectious that the book will readily hook non-fishers as well.”
—Library Journal
