Matthew Dickerson takes his readers from tiny mountain streams in the southern Rockies of New Mexico to the mighty Colorado River at the head of the Grand Canyon, to the Hill Country of Texas, exploring these various waters that manage to hold cold-loving trout in the midst of the hot desert landscapes of the American southwest. This lovingly described journey brings us through Dickerson’s own life of discovery and his love of fly fishing, trout, and the rivers where trout live. Though neither an historical nor a scientific text, the writing is informed by both.
The book is illustrated by original prints from Texas artist Barbara Whitehead.
Targeted Age Group:: 18+
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
The topic itself was all the inspiration I needed–which is to say, the places, the ideas, and the trout themselves.
I love cold rivers. I love mountains. I love the beauty of wild trout. I was especially drawn to the strange juxtaposition of the cold-water-loving native trout and the hot dry–yet often stunningly beautiful–lands of the American southwest. I am also saddened by many of the stories of human use and abuse of these lands and of those who have lived on them and depended on them in the past.
I wanted to spend more time in these places, and take the time to think and write about them. I wanted to tell stories that would provide enjoyment for others who know these places, and fill the imaginations of those who don’t. I especially wanted to tell stories that would inspire others to care about these places with the sort of care that will help preserve and protect them.
Writing this book was an act of love and delight.
How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
nonfiction
Book Sample
The landscape around me looks ravaged.
It is the second half of March. We have been driving across I-10 in Texas making our way from San Antonio to Gila Hot Springs near the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in the Gila National Forest in southwestern New Mexico. Our plan is to spend three days fishing the three main headwaters of the Gila: that is, the three that bear the name Gila: the aptly named West Fork, Middle Fork, and East Fork of the Gila River. But it is an eleven-hour drive from San Antonio, even at the speed limit of 80mph.
***
The reason I was on my way to the Gila was in part to look for some Gila trout, and to see the places where they lived. I wanted to experience once again some high alpine wilderness in the southwest. Thirty-five years earlier, I had caught eastern brook trout in the mountain streams in the Pecos range east of Santa Fe. That setting, as I noted earlier, had a profound imaginative impact on me. It brought pure delight to a young heart and mind. Cold mountain streams have ever since held a preeminent place in my angling heart.
But so far all the trout I had ever seen in the southwest were the result of some form of human engineering. They were introduced fish. In some places, a thriving, healthy, self-sustaining population. In most places, though, they were dependent on stocking. In some they were seasonal, only capable of surviving the winter. Or they survived thanks only human edifices of the massive dams that have so impacted the southwestern landscape.
However there are native trout in the arid southwest. They live high in the mountains, often at 6000’ or 7000’ in elevation, in waters fed much of the year by snow runoff, and by cold springs exposed tens of thousands of years ago by volcanic eruptions like the ones that created the caldera from which the headwaters of the West Fork of the Gila flow. They remain shielded by a canopy of forests that grow even in the southwest at altitudes where peaks can trap passing moisture.
Many of these trout populations are gone, mostly because of human changes to their environment. But endangered remnants of some remain, where they and their environment have been protected. Strains of native cutthroats can still be found even in the higher elevations in tributaries of the Rio Grande near the border of Texas and New Mexico. There are even trout in the mountains further south in Mexico. Among all these desert trout, the Apache and Gila trout of western New Mexico and eastern Arizona—golden-hued relatives of the rainbow trout—hold a special place in my imagination.
Links to Purchase Print Books
Buy Trout in the Desert: On Fly Fishing, Human Habits, and the Cold Waters of the Arid Southwest Print Edition at Amazon
Buy Trout in the Desert: On Fly Fishing, Human Habits, and the Cold Waters of the Arid Southwest Print Edition at Barnes and Noble
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https://bookgoodies.com/interview-with-author-matthew-dickerson/
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