Where Trout Live, How, And Why

Trout Country
Michael Furtman
NorthWood Press, $39 cloth, ISBN 1-55971-472-7

I first became acquainted with Michael Furtman's writing through Midwest Fly Fishing, the magazine published by Tom Helgeson in Minneapolis. This past year, Furtman, a free lance writer with seven published books, has become a regular columnist in MWFF and occasionally does book reviews. (We have republished one of his in this issue of the Riverwatch, and we used a column of his on environmental issues in our last issue.)

Since then I discovered this fine book, published about a year ago. I have not been disappointed.

It is a beautiful book, bordering on a "coffee table" classification with its many striking photographs and original watercolor illustrations. It is also very well written with a text that covers most of what we want and need to know about trout: what they are, when and what they eat, and how they live.

"Among fish, there are trout, and then there is everything else." Furtman is talking to the converted. We, who have this strange obsession know there is magic in trout. They have captured our hearts, and maybe even our souls. We certainly want to know as much as we can about them.

Furtman does a very credible job at providing this information by focusing on the fish rather than the fishing. With chapters on feeding behavior, sensory capabilities, habits and habitats, and much more, he runs the gamut from natural history to natural habitats and the dangers trout face from the hand of man. He also has informed dissertations on the virtues of wild trout, the problem with hatcheries, and touches on fishing regulations (including catch and release) and fishing mortality.

He concludes with a fervent plea:

. . . . That we have come to possess the ability to decide which creatures will survive and where they will do so is an awesome responsibility.

I suggest that although we have the power to decide, we do not have the right. Wild trout deserve their own evolutionary future. We simply do not have the wisdom to chart their course, nor is it our prerogative.

Furtman argues with intelligence and passion. However, I have some disagreement with his conclusions; we could have a fruitful discussion stimulated by good bourbon around a camp fire on the banks of the Au Sable. (I would prefer he cite the references used in his later chapters.)

With his intelligence and passion there is also humor:

. . . in addition to our shared need for wild and beautiful places, trout and trout aficionados are a bit alike in temperament--aloof, a bit anti-social except when mating, and single-minded in their pursuits. But we do have our differences. Trout are both much better looking and better behaved.

Trout Country would be a great gift to one of the possessed. RWOL

[Top] [Home]