Fishing
Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania, where Whistlestop Bookshop is situated, is generously watered and drained by creeks renowned for their fishing. Conodoguinet Creek, which flows about 100 miles to the Susquehanna River and is nearest to Carlisle, is actually better known for the fishing in its two tributaries, Big Spring Creek out of the Newville area (only 5 miles) and Letort Spring Run, which arises south of Carlisle and flows north 9 miles to the Conodoguinet. The Yellow Breeches Creek, which flows along South Mountain for 56 miles to the Susquehanna, is internationally famous for its trout fishing.
Naturally, a trout-fishing and especially a fly-fishing culture has developed, sometimes thought to be mostly local, sometimes acknowledged to be of world interest — the world that loves the quiet and focus and solitary rewards of fly-fishing. Rarely, the local zen masters of fishing wrote books. Charlie Fox was once a customer of Whistlestop, and Joe Humphreys is still in print and in fact the subject of a documentary we carry. Fishing does inspire fine writing, after all — the names of Izaak Walton, Norman MacLean, Thomas McGuane, Patrick McManus, John Gierach suggest the range of approaches in writing about “standing in a river waving a stick,” to use Gierach’s famous descripton.
Dedicated to the memory of a great fisherman and an even better brother, Gordon Wood (1956-2020).
Reading the Water: Fly Fishing, Fatherhood, and Finding Strength in Nature
Reading the Water: Fly Fishing, Fatherhood, and Finding Strength in Nature
A unique and radiant memoir about fatherhood and fly fishing.
Fishing was Mark Hume’s passion since he was a young boy, a lifeline through a childhood marked by impermanence. When he became a father, he knew he wanted to pass on his love of fishing and the natural world to his daughters. Most of all, he wanted to give them hope for their future even as they were growing up during an ever-worsening climate crisis.
As soon as they were old enough, Mark taught his girls how to read the water and see the patterns in nature. He showed them how to cast, how to catch fish and release them, and—only when needed—how to kill them. He discovered that fly fishing and fatherhood require many of the same skills: patience, flexibility, and the knowledge of when to reel in and when to let go.
Illuminating and heartfelt, Reading the Water is a much-needed, positive story about a father raising daughters, and a meditation on finding faith in a deep connection with the natural world.
Mark Hume is an award-winning environmental journalist and author of four books, including the acclaimed River of the Angry Moon. He was formerly a national correspondent and columnist with the Globe and Mail, BC bureau chief for the National Post, and a senior correspondent with the Vancouver Sun. Based in Vancouver, he has fly fished in British Columbia for fifty years.