Back Seat with Fish

by Henry Hughes

  Thanks to Celeste Thompson, who keeps the fish flags flying, and to Paul Gentry, who pours tall drinks and ideas.

  A wave of continued appreciation for my wonderful colleagues at Western Oregon University, especially those who waded though drafts of this book and offered superb suggestions for revision: Karen Haberman, David Hargreaves, Dennis Eddings, and Curtis Yehnert.

  I am truly beholden to the distinguished literary angler-friends who read, commented on, and supported this book, even when light was fading and there were no bites: Marjorie Sandor, James Hepworth, Nick Lyons, Ted Leeson, Margot Page, Charles Rangeley-Wilson, and David James Duncan.

  Much of this story is about family, and I offer thanks back through time to my late mother, Marion Spies Hughes, and her sister, my aunt, Lillian Spies. Love and thanks to my father, Charles, who didn’t like to fish but took me fishing and kept our boats afloat. To my brother, David, a cherished angling friend and supporter.

  And finally and most powerfully, an ocean of thanks to my closest reader, best friend, wife, and lover, Chloë—with you I rise and jump.

  Research for this project was made possible through a Faculty Development Award from Western Oregon University.

  Some parts of this book first appeared in slightly different form in Harvard Review, Japan Quarterly, Adventures NW, Marine Quarterly, and in the introduction to Fishing Stories from Knopf’s Everyman’s Library.