The Compleat Angler in Tasmania: A Highland Fly Fishing Season with Izaak Walton

Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler is the world's most published secular book. It is not just a book about fishing, it is about living a good life. 

Description

"Keith Pritchard is a dedicated fly fisher. There are similarities with Izaak and Keith: both are mad-keen fishers, both had dramatic changes in fortunes, both are Anglicans - Keith was an anglican priest - both have a love of nature and quote poetry, and both celebrate the ingenuous fishers' life. 

This book is philosophical in tone. It is not about being a expert fly fisher, but about being an exemplary fly fisher. It is not of how to fish, but of why to fish. Fly fishing is about being one with, and appreciating, environment. Fly fishing should make one a better person. The book is set in a conversational, celebratory mood like The Compleat Angler.

It is a chronicle of a fly fishing season in Tasmania's central highlands. It is set in the context of the thoughts of Izaak Walton. Keith owned a highland shack, and for ten years spent time each fortnight in the highlands. This book gives accounts not just about a year's fishing, but also of the changing seasons and delights of highland life. Tasmania's central highlands is - together with New Zealand - a 'Mecca' for mainland Australian and overseas fly fishers who appreciate highland shack owners' relaxed lifestyle and their celebration of life. This book clarifies a lot of what Tasmanians take for granted. It gives details required by readers who live outside Tasmania, or who have no appreciation of highland Tasmanian life or highland life in general. 

This is a book fly fishers will read and then give to others to show them why fly fishers are so passionate about an art and relaxation called fly fishing."