Fishing Through the Apocalypse: An Angler's Adventures in the 21st Century

by Matthew L. Miller

Overview

What does the future hold for fish and the people who pursue them? Fishing Through the Apocalypse explores that question through a series of fishing stories about the reality of the sport in the 21st century.

Matthew Miller (director of science communications for The Nature Conservancy) explores fishing that might be considered dystopian: joining anglers as they stick their lines into trash-filled urban canals, or visiting farm ponds where you can catch giant, endangered fish for a fee. But it isn’t all bleak. When it comes to fishing, the other part of the story is this: a cadre of anglers is looking to right past wrongs, to return native species, to remove dams, to appreciate the unappreciated fish, to clean our waters and protect public lands.

As an angler and conservationist, Matt removes any and all preconceived notions about what it means to fish in the 21st century in order to see the different visions of the future that exist right here, right now.

Fishing Through the Apocalypse offers one of the widest-ranging looks at fish conservation in the United States, and also includes some of the more unusual adventures ever featured in a fishing book.


Features fishing adventures in:


Idaho

Colorado

Wyoming

New Mexico

Utah

Texas

Florida

Iowa

Minnesota

Illinois

Washington DC

Virginia

Pennsylvania

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493057740
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	03/01/2021
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	1,140,086
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Matthew L. Miller is director of science communications for The Nature Conservancy, the world’s largest conservation organization. He is editor and lead writer the popular Cool Green Science blog and is one of the most prolific writers in the organization’s 65-year history. He has traveled across North America and to five continents to cover stories on science, nature and outdoor recreation. He’s worked for the Conservancy for 17 years, previously serving as communications director for the Idaho program. Matt received a degree in English – Creative Writing from Penn State, where he also worked as a publicity writer early in his career. As a freelance writer, he’s written about the outdoors for Sports Afield, Bugle, Quality Whitetails, Backcountry Journal, Living Bird and many other publications. He’s an active member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America, and has received numerous awards including Outstanding Board Member and several awards for blogging. He’s an avid angler, hunter, naturalist and distance runner, and lives in Boise, Idaho, with his wife and young son.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: Fishing Through the Apocalypse xiii

Chapter 1 Banana-Rama 1

Chapter 2 The Ghosts of Cutthroats Past 15

Chapter 3 Gila Trout Burning 31

Chapter 4 Trout of the Corn 41

Chapter 5 Other Bass 51

Chapter 6 Big Gonads and Sneaker Males 61

Chapter 7 Cisco Disco 73

Chapter 8 A Sucker Star is Born 87

Chapter 9 Gar Wars: The Cast of the Drones 99

Chapter 10 Microfishing Mania among the Life Listers 115

Chapter 11 What Happens in Miami 129

Chapter 12 Convicts in the Hot Springs 143

Chapter 13 A Monumental Eel 151

Chapter 14 Waiting for Sturgeon 163

Chapter 15 Down on the Sturgeon Ranch 175

Chapter 16 Abundance 185

Chapter 17 Coal Creek 197

Selected Bibliography 215

Editorial Reviews

Intrepid, informed, warmly humorous and determined to catch, understand and save America’s fish, Miller gives us an original and desperately needed documentary. He exposes “trash fish” prejudices, fearlessly wades Miami sewer ditches, casts into the Potomac from the Capitol Mall, microfishes for shiners, and strives to save his home streams. This entertaining and edifying book extolls a conservation-minded angling obsession that just might get us through the apocalypse.

Henry Hughes

America needs more outdoor writers like Matt Miller. He understands that fish are wildlife, too, and that there is no such thing as a “trash fish” that wasn’t hybridized or otherwise concocted by humans. In this deeply personal, engaging narrative Miller shows us what’s wrong and right with modern fishing and fish management. But even when he condemns he gives us hope. Anyone who loves nature — angler or not — should not miss this important book.

Ted Williams

"This book is a masterful blend of many things: a celebration of diversity and wild, native fish, a page-turning adventure that takes us both wide and deep, and a timely call to “pay attention”. But while there are glimpses of a future as ominous as the title suggests, Matthew Miller also points the way to an alternative future, where angling continues to be a vital antidote to both mental and environ-mental monoculture. Which way it goes is down to us". – Jeremy Wade, River Monsters

From the Publisher

A brilliant, urgent dispatch from the tangled front lines between fishing and conservation. A very funny, sad, infuriating, and hopeful book written by someone who truly understands that the simple act of fishing is so much more complicated than merely catching a fish.

Stephen Sautner

What’s to become to become of the ancient art of angling in the dystopian world of 21st-century America? Author Matt Miller goes off in search of an answer, casting his line into trash-strewn agricultural canals, wastewater drainage ditches, pay ponds, as well as near-pristine lakes and rivers, chasing a wide range of species, from beautiful native trout and salmon to dime-sized micro-fish and suckers rarely pursued by anglers. Although Miller doesn’t spare any punches, he is optimistic about the future of angling. Fishing through the Apocalypse is an entertaining and enlightening account for anglers and non-anglers alike.

Tim Gallagher