Chris Dombrowski was playing a numbers game: two passionspoetry and fly-fishing; two children, one of them in utero; and an income hovering perilously close to zero. Enter, at this particularly challenging moment, a miraculous email:can’t go, it’s all paid for, just book a flight to Miami.
Thus began a journey that would lead to the Bahamas and to David Pinder, a legendary bonefishing guide. Bonefish are prized for their elusiveness and their tenacity. And no one was better at hunting them than Pinder, a Bahamian whose accuracy and patience were virtuosic.He knows what the fish think, said one fisherman,before they think it.
By the time Dombrowski meets Pinder, however, he has been abandoned by the industry he helped build. With cataracts from a lifetime of staring at the water and a tiny severance package after forty years of service, he watches as the world of his beloved bonefish is degraded by tourists he himself did so much to attract. But as Pinder’s stories unfold, Dombrowski discovers a profound integrity and wisdom in the guide’s life.
Best Book of 2016:BloombergandBig Sky JournalSelected as a Top Ten favorite for the Indie Next List (Winter 2017-2018)A brilliant book. Destined to be a classic.
Jim HarrisonDombrowskis?writing exhibits a poetic sense of economy. Theres a tremendous amount of information here on the geological, botanical, biological and human history of the region, but the author uses only whats necessary to the story and relates it in evocative, concise language that reminded me of Gary Snyder?one minute and?John McPhee?the next. Dombrowskis exacting descriptions of the sport make me long to try it againand to wish that more fishing books were written by poets.
Wall Street JournalBrings to life the remarkable natural beauty of the bonefish flats and their flora and fauna. The poló¾