``A Good Life Wasted: Or Twenty Years as a Fishing Guide''
By Dave Ames
(The Lyons Press, 2003, $24.95)
The thing about fishing, ultimately, is not the fish. It's the stories.
Dave Ames, who lucked and sweet-talked his way into a job working a stretch of trout water in Montana a couple of decades ago, explains that a guide's job, ultimately, is to help people help themselves.
And in doing so he's collected some whoppers, which he spins in a way that makes you feel like you're right there with the boys and, occasionally, girls.
At times, his riffs on physics and other non sequiturs get in the way of the good stuff - his stories - but we were able to get past the obstructions without too much difficulty.
Probably because the thing a fisherman most looks forward to, besides the next fishing trip, is the next fishing story.
- Michael A. Anastasi
INTERNET
--Wrapped with a bow: Dr. Saxton Pope and Arthur Young would have gotten along just fine with rocker/bowhunter Ted Nugent had Nugent been around in their day, the mid-20th century. But the legacy lives on at the Pope and Young Club, whose Web site (http://www.pope-young.org/) proclaims it's ``one of North America's leading bowhunting and conservation organizations.''
At the time, Pope and Young's efforts apparently rekindled what was deemed a ``forgotten and challenging form of hunting.'' Now there's a museum in Seattle paying homage to their exploits. The two-room exhibit includes the original ``P & Y Club's'' actual first meeting place between fellow hunters in the 1950s.
The other room includes a library, and collections of more than 600 arrows and 300 vintage bows.
Another intriguing section is the bowhunter's ``score sheet,'' which lists how many points various game animals are worth. The minimum point total for bagging a Yellowstone Elk is 335 points.
--Hike in paradise: There are few more beautiful locales in the United States than the Hawaiian island of Maui. Get a taste of what a hiking trip there might be like at the Maui hiking Web site (http://www.maui.net/*tkern/hiking.html).
- Chris Cocoles
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