The author, being that most unusual creature--an honest angler--offers this caveat on the opening page: "Many of us have elevated fly fishing (especially our favorite kind) to the highest category of human endeavor: something we don"t need to explain unless we feel like it. Of course, if we do feel like explaining it, look out. We"re liable to start referring to it as an "art" and maybe even sit down and write a book or something." The rest you can guess. This is one man"s opinion about the art of fishing small streams with a fly rod--a guide that is always entertaining and frequently worthy of underlining. Readers familiar with the John Gierach of Dances with Trout and Even Brook Trout Get the Blues will recognize in Fly Fishing Small Streams the folksy wisdom and amiable writing that has made this trout-bumming author"s books of essays so popular. However, like Flyfishing: The High Country and Fishing Bamboo, it"s an instructional. This isn"t to say it"s not a fun read, but it remains foremost a guidebook--and a very useful one at that. --Langdon Cook, Sports & Outdoors editor