A Cast Away in Montana

by Tim Schulz

Lyons Press (May 7, 2024)
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Illustrated by Bob White | Foreword by Jerry Dennis

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What a warm, intimate, often humorous and always textured account of a first fishing trip to Montana. It’s filled with the excitement a new and happy experience brings. There are fine glimpses of such great rivers as the Madison, the Beaverhead, Big Hole, and spring creeks—and Tim makes vivid the history of place and character of friends and newcomers he meets. He has a great gift for friendship, and his connections are deep and honest. The book is filled with joy, surprise, and unforgettable anecdotes. I loved it., and he’s put together a delightful collection of essays and yarns. They’re clear-headed, big-hearted, witty, smart, honest, and good-natured—all the qualities I admire most in writings about fishing.

Nick Lyons, Author of Spring Creek, Bright Rivers, Fire in the Straw, and other books.

Smart, funny, good-natured, deeply observed, free of clichés and sentimentality—this is the most entertaining collection of fly-fishing essays I’ve read in years. The fishing scenes are exciting and fresh—not an easy accomplishment in a genre 500 years old—and the portraits of other anglers are vivid and colorful. A Cast Away in Montana uncovers an abundance of new literary ground in a place where it’s hard to find new ground.

Jerry Dennis, Author of The Living Great Lakes, The River Home, A Place on the Water, and other books.

The full range of Tim Schulz’s angling intelligence and artful sensibility is on display in this lively, entertaining, must-read memoir of his first, and long awaited, Montana fly fishing adventure. It is candid, observant, humorous, reflective, and knowledgeable about all the things that truly matter in life, fly fishing included. I know Tim as a superb, skilled fly fisher, and now as an equally talented writer.

Bob DeMott, Author of Angling Days, Astream: American Writers on Fly Fishing, and other books.

Tim Schulz’s journey of discovery leads him deep into the Missouri headwaters of Lewis and Clark, but his corps features angling companions and waters whose names we know, or wish we did, and a sense of perception and humor that is transformative, for him, for us. Accompanied by the ghosts of his past and a giddiness toward exploration of the fabled rivers of Montana, Schulz draws advice from Jerry Kustich, Todd Tanner, Kelly Galloup, and others, guides to fellow travelers. Despite the apprehension that haunts us all as we set out from the beloved to the adventure, he sweeps us up in his awe of new places and their stories. With humor well-tended by insightful analogies, Tim Schulz’s journey of discovery is a worthy companion to our own.

Kathy Scott, Author of Changing Planes, Brook Trout Forest, Moose in the Water—Bamboo on the Bench, and other books.

For an angler, there is nothing more thrilling than a road trip to hallowed rivers wherever they flow. Tim Schulz’s new book, A Cast Away in Montana, captures the essence of several weeks spent fishing some of the Big Sky State’s classic waters, and his thoughtful words will take the reader on a journey that is almost as good as being there. For those who love road trips, A Cast Away in Montana is a trip well worth taking.

Jerry Kustich, author of At the River’s EdgeA Wisp in the WillowAround the Next Bend, and other books.