September 1, 2020
The tarpon is a remarkable fish; it is brilliantly silver, long-lived, and jumps out of the water spectacularly. It is also huge, and provides the ultimate high for any angler who hooks and reels one in. Burke (Saban, 2015), who covers sports, including fishing, presents a collection of stories about larger-than-life anglers who gathered in a very special place on the water off Homosassa, Florida, to catch the biggest tarpon around during the golden age of fly-fishing in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Burke paints a vivid picture of the clear water and white sands that made Homosassa such a nexus of world fishing record holders, drawing in the history of the place, the tarpon, the sport of fly-fishing, and the famous anglers who name their names over a century. Burke also stresses the need for conservation, encouraging all pursuing outdoor adventures to participate in efforts to protect and restore wild places at sea and on land. This tarpon chronicle will appeal to all anglers and everyone fascinated by marine life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)
Starred review from July 6, 2020
Sportswriter Burke (Saban: The Making of a Coach) takes a fascinating deep-dive look into the world of tarpon fishing and the town famous for it. In the more than 40 years since Tom Evans, a New York City stockbroker, first caught a world-record fish in Homosassa, Fla., in 1977, he has returned to the area and landed six more record tarpons in the surrounding waters. His success made this small town the hub of saltwater fly-fishing in the 1970s and ’80s, and attracted professional anglers (Stu Apte, Lefty Kreh, Billy Pate, Ted Williams) as well as fishing enthusiasts including writers Jim Harrison and Thomas McGuane and landscape painter Russell Chatham. Burke wonderfully captures their stories as well as those of their unsung guides, detailing the alliances and rivalries (local outfitters disliked the growing number of guides coming up from the Keys; and Keys outfitters felt “the manner in which fished the place was rather primitive”). Burke’s writing is vivid and lyrical, as when he describes how “the roots of the mangroves... gripped the river bottom like the fingers of witches.” Told with an angler’s eye for detail, even the glossaries of fishing terminology and fly-fishing techniques will engage readers (a fish is icicled when it “is totally spent from a fight and is motionless in the water, its tail suspended over its head”). Fly-fishing fans will be hooked.