In Casting Iconic Waters, writer, naturalist, and educator Steve Ramirez takes the reader on a physical and philosophical journey to some of the most legendary rivers and wild landscapes in America. Imbued with fly-fishing throughout, this journey will seek to explore what makes certain places feel magical and meaningful. How do we define "iconic" when considering wild places that have seemingly held the ability to restore our souls and fill them with feelings of peace, belonging, awe, and gratitude? Each of these chosen regions has been considered an iconic destination for anyone who yearns for the wild places that are distinctly American. From the songbird-filled hardwoods of New England to the jack-pine Northwoods where wolves still sing in the night. From the Yellowstone Valley where bison feed next to tumbling trout streams to Bristol Bay where brown bears compete with anglers for salmon, steelhead, and leopard spotted rainbow trout. And each of these destinations has served as the birthplaces of American literature that is intrinsically connected to the landscape and inspired by a love of the outdoors. In Casting Iconic Waters, these legendary places will give us new stories - the stories of this century that are yet untold. .
Steve Ramirez is a writer, educator, master naturalist, philosopher, and outdoor adventurer who lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country. He has lived in and traveled across four continents chronicling the unique historical landscapes, human cultures, and natural worlds that are in danger of vanishing. Steve's stories have been published in various magazines and journals, including but not limited to: Trout, Under Wild Skies, Explore, Texas Sporting Journal, Texas Trophy Hunters, The Houston Literary Review, Cutthroat: Journal of the Arts, and The Pecan Grove Review. He is an avid fly-fisher, hiker, naturalist, hunter, and outdoor educator who lives in a house in the hills, surrounded by trees.
"In an era of social media 'influencers' and pan-flashed digital commentary on fly fishing, it's easy for anglers to lose context...even hope. Thank God Steve Ramirez is willing and able to give us some real, hard-earned, and eloquent words on "why" we all care to flyfish in the first place. His prose is sharp, honest, and deeply meaningful. Casting Onward reinforces the spirit and soul of angling, and it underscores the importance of community, place, and species in ways that have seldom been touched with such respect and eloquence." --Kirk Deeter, Kirk Deeter, Editor-in-Chief, Trout Unlimited/Trout Magazine "Casting Onward is nothing if not a conversation--with native fish, with nature, and with the people who love and fight for both. Steve Ramirez asks numerous important questions in that conversation, but more importantly he has the unique--and increasingly rare--gift of listening wholeheartedly to the answers. Pull up a chair, it's a conversation you don't want to miss." --Jason Rolfe, Editor of The Flyfish Journal "Faced with a pandemic and a world gone mad, Steve Ramirez follows the time-honored tradition of taking to the wild. But his is no voice crying alone in the wilderness. Ramirez knows if we're ever to get out of our current mess, we need each other. This is a lyrical, funny, and frequently moving account of what matters in a life well lived: friendship and fishing and wild places among them." --Matthew L. Miller, Director of science communications for The Nature Conservancy, editor of the Cool Green Science blog, and author of Fishing Through the Apocalypse "For Steve Ramirez, the presence or absence of native fish is a metric by which to measure the wholeness of a landscape. After reading this book, your presence or absence in the fight for wild waters and wild fish may well be the metric by which you evaluate your own connection to the natural world." --T. Edward Nickens, Columnist and editor-at-large for Field & Stream and author of The Last Wild Road: Adventure and Essays from a Sporting Life "I wish there were more anglers, writers, and Americans like Steve Ramirez. He understands what most don't -- that fish are wildlife, too. And he understands that our remnant native fish -- genetically undefiled by aliens flung confetti-like around the waterscape in the age of ecological illiteracy -- are national treasures. This book contains some of the finest angling writing I've seen. But it's not just for anglers. It's for all who delight in wild things, wild land, and wild water." --Ted Williams, National Chair, Native Fish Coalition "Ramirez is your knowledgeable cross-country guide who cracks a joke or two while he introduces you to a place, makes you love it, and (now that you love it) advises you on how to care for it. An evocative big-hearted book, highly recommended." --Tim Cahill, author of Jaguars Ripped My Flesh "Simply, a book about fish species to be forever cherished from a writer to be revered. Casting Onward deserves a prominent place on every angler's bookshelf." --Gerry Bethge, Deputy Editor, Field & Stream and Outdoor Life "Steve is a naturalist, conservationist, and an activist, but most importantly has a deep understanding of the human soul. He understands that in the end, changing hearts and minds is the only way to save America's native fish." --Ross Purnell, Publisher/Editor, Fly Fisherman Magazine "Steve Ramirez is a man with a mission. He challenges us to be our best selves and recognize we are all in the same boat, whether fish, birds, wolves, or humans. Our defense against the storm surge of destructive human activities that will drown us is to recognize we are one. Beautifully crafted, Casting Onward teaches us this lesson." --Lillian Stokes, Co-author, Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America "Steve Ramirez is an author of rare talent, whose prose reads like poetry. In Casting Onward, the follow-up volume to his widely acclaimed Casting Forward, Ramirez travels the country, fly rod in hand, in search of America's native gamefish in both fresh water and salt, from cutthroat trout in the West to striped bass and bluefish in the East, and much more. Along the way, he reminds us--in his signature lyrical, evocative style--that fishing is about much more than fish." --Bill Bowers, Writer, editor, and angler "The River Why, by David James Duncan, so profoundly influenced me that I named a beloved dog after the protagonist, Gus. A Fly-Fisherman's Blue Ridge, by Chris Camuto and Holy Ghost Creek by Frank Weissbarth, are two of the finest fishing books I have ever read--mostly because they are not really about fishing. Casting Onward sits in the pantheon of these books. It is a book about fishing, but on a much more important level, it is about us, our relationship with one-another, and our relationship with the lands and waters that sustain the planet." --Chris Wood, President/CEO, Trout Unlimited "This is a book about many important things--friendships, love, humor, and the joys of living--and fishing too! Cast your fly into the circle of life--connect with nature, live in the moment, change the future. I couldn't close the cover until I finished it." --Randall Kaufmann, author of Bonefishing: Fly Fishing the Flats for Bonefish, Permit, Tarpon, and Trevally "With Casting Onward, Steve Ramirez has crafted a beautiful meditation on the natural world and our relationship to it. Though Steve describes the various perils of neglecting either, he is, like all anglers, an optimist. By the time you reach the end of this splendid, heartfelt book, you'll be one, too." --Monte Burke, author of Lords of the Fly and Saban "You open this book expecting to connect with fish, but what you don't expect is even better. Steve offers reader's an authentic experience with every character in every chapter. You feel everything but idle when you spend time with these pages." --Kris Millgate, author of My Place Among Fish and My Place Among Men
