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CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS ARTICLE ON FFIMAGAZINE.COM Monsters of River & Rock By Dana Sturn | August 2021 Maiden’s Compulsive Angler it’s in places I love, or places I of fishing I’ve never done, for a fish conjures imaginings of a wealthy can’t wait to visit. He finds rainbow I’ve never caught, but in the end onsters of River & Rock is rock-star jetting around the trout in the lakes surrounding a every little part of it is fishing, and theM new book by , who world, haunting the halls of fancy remote, fly-in wilderness lodge that’s what makes it good. just happens to be a lodges, and of course fly fishing in British Columbia. Here, a brief and guitarist for the hard-core all the great places because . . . encounter with a black bear stokes While it’s a fishing book, about band . It turns out that’s exactly what I would do if the requisite bearanoia we all must a third of the text details Smith’s he’s also a pretty serious angler, I were Iron Maiden’s compulsive weather in the Canadian outback. adventurers getting to and from and he’s been lugging his tackle angler. So when I cracked the In New Zealand, large difficult his fishing trips, with many of these around on world tours since the spine, I settled in for what I was brown trout force him to refine his stories centered around his rock- 1980s. So, rather than pen a tell- sure would be an entertaining fly- casting, and have him wishing for and-roll life. But don’t expect any all about those wild Maiden world fishing memoir. a heavier fly rod. And finally, in the lurid details here—either through tours, for his first book he decided Bahamas, a day on the bonefish selective memory or simple to write about fishing. Monsters is a fishing book for flats doesn’t quite go as expected. honesty, the rock n’ roller on the sure. But it’s not really a fly-fishing road stories all come back to the But you didn’t really think I was book. I’m a bit hesitant to mention Whether he’s fishing a coarse fish fishing, which I guess is probably going to launch into a review of a this though, because I don’t want ditch somewhere in England or a true for any serious angler. Along rock n’ roll n’ reels book without a to put you off, even though early clear New Zealand stream, what the way he’s not afraid to share his little mood music did you? Not a on it jumps right out at you just makes Smith’s memoir an angler’s missteps and failures, and refuses chance. So here’s your homework: like an Iron Maiden album cover. book is that he recalls the same to take himself too seriously. As the pop over to YouTube and search But if you’re willing to leave your things we all do: the long wait pages turn you begin to hear the up any of the Iron Maiden songs fly rods in the gear van most of for that first catch, and the crazy, voice of a bloke you’d like to have listed below to get a feel for how the time, you’ll like Monsters, just bubbling over moment when it a pint with. By the time you reach Smith rolls. Then join me back here as I did. all comes together. The eccentrics the photo insert, Smith’s folksy, and we’ll have a little chat about we all encounter in the angling engaging style has reeled you this fishing book. Most of the book details Smith’s world are there too, men and in, and Monsters of River & Rock keen interest in coarse fishing— women who’ve made a life out of will have even the most precious Flight of Icarus (1983) bait fishing for carp, barbel, something most of us could never among us willing to forgive him, (1984) tench, and sometimes pike—in manage. Smith also describes the just a little, for hooking us with a (1986) the waterways near his home delicate balancing acts involved bait rig. The Evil that Men Do (1988) in England. He also finds bass in keeping our fishing obsessions Moonchild (1988) in New York and sturgeon in alive while the rest of the world The Wicker Man (2000) Canada. Smith does a good job demands its piece of us. Over a weaving in the how-to, and I came long fishing life, these memories All wired up? away with enough information remain as sharp as the moments about baiting up a carp swim to of joy that created them. Those Good! respect the skill required to do moments, scattered among Let’s begin. it well, even though I’d probably the frustration, discomfort and never want to. boredom that often accompany For me, the full title Monsters us, are the things that connect us of River & Rock: My Life as Iron When the fly fishing does appear, all. Smith may be describing a type Dana Sturn is a steelhead devotee and the founder of Spey Pages. He lives in Monsters of Vancouver, British Columbia and can be found each year, minus 2020 of River & Rock course, swinging up chinook and steel By Dana Sturn | August 2021 on the Dean River, among other plac- es. Follow him on IG @danawsturn

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