Back Cast: John McPhee and his Favorite Fish
About this episode
Tom Rosenbauer interviews Pulitzer Prize-winning author John McPhee about his favorite fish to catch on the fly rod.
This episode was originally published on August 19th, 2021. This week's podcast guest is especially exciting to me as he is one of my literary heroes. John McPhee [24:10] is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author (Annals of the Former World), and in his numerous other books he has written about such diverse topics as nuclear energy, the merchant marine, basketball, Alaska, bark canoes, oranges, continental drift, flood control, tennis, farmer's markets, and many other eclectic topics. Whether or not you are interested in a subject, you can be sure you will be when you finish reading one of his books you will be fascinated. John has also been a staff writer for The New Yorker since the 1960s. In our interview, he talks about his two favorite fish to catch on the fly rod--the American shad (which he wrote an entire book about, The Founding Fish), and the chain pickerel, which he did not write a book about but did pen a short essay on in his collection of stories The Patch. (I doubt is anyone in the world who would count those two fish in combination as their favorites--but he is never conventional.) I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I enjoyed talking to him. In the Fly Box this…
More episodes of The Orvis Fly-Fishing Podcast
- Travel Tips From Around the World, with Alberto Rey
- Secrets of the Mother's Day Caddis, with Taylor Edrington
- Orvis' Return to Roots, with Simon Perkins
- The US Forest Service Needs Your Help, with Paul Hendricks
- How To Catch Permit On Top, with RA Beattie
- Tips for Urban Fly Fishing, with Marc Fryt
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Orvis Fly-Fishing Podcast podcast page.