Testament of a Fisherman - Robert Traver

Even a mild winter like this one seems long, as we slide into spring and trout season still a month away. I needed a little something to bridge that month before I'm back out on a stream chasing trout, so I did a search on ebay for Robert Traver, and discovered an inexpensive copy of Trout Madness. I've read it before, more than once, yet found myself without a copy. This is the tonic to carry the weary fly fisherman into spring and the season ahead.

Readers out there who do not fly fish may recognize the name Robert Traver, as he wrote, besides his delightful books about chasing trout, a novel called Anatomy of a Murder, which later became an Otto Preminger film, starring Jimmy Stewart (if you have never seen this film, go rent it today). He also did a picture book, Anatomy of a Fisherman, which included his poem about fly fishing, "come to daddy....come to daddy...come to daddy-o".

So now, I have my copy of Trout Madness, and already tonight I've inhaled three or four chapters. Later, in May, I'm going to drive to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and visit some of Mr. Traver's haunts on and around the Escanaba River.