John Lawrence Gierach (November 24, 1946 – October 3, 2024) was an American author and freelance writer who lived in Larimer County, near Lyons, Colorado.
His books are based on his fly fishing excursions all over the world, many of which were undertaken alongside his friend A.K. Best.Ulf, Borjesson (6 November 2006). "A.K. Best, flugbindare". Flugfiske I Norden. 28. His book Trout Bum popularized the term "trout bum." Gierach also wrote poetry and authored two books of poems.
Gierach's archival collection is kept at Montana State University, alongside an oral history collected by MSU about Gierach's life as an angler and an angling writer.John Gierach, Angling Oral History Project, Montana State University (MSU) Library, Bozeman, MT The collection includes his manuscripts, poetry, photographs, fishing logs, and general correspondence from 1976 to 2014. A correspondence of interest included in the collection is between Gierach and his close friend Ed Engle. This collection is open for research.
Gierach died from a heart attack on October 3, 2024, in Longmont, Colorado, at the age of 77.
His work has appeared in Gray's Sporting Journal, Field & Stream, where he was a contributing author, and Fly, Rod, and Reel, where he was an editor at large. In the 1990s, he wrote a column for the "Outdoors" section of The New York Times. Gierach also wrote columns for the Longmont Daily Times-Call, the monthly Redstone Review, and the quarterly publication TROUT for the non-profit Trout Unlimited. These articles pertained mostly to the sport of fly fishing, but Gierach's perspective on nature, philosophy, and life was also central to his work. The New York Times also featured several of Gierach's books in a "Books of the Times" article.
A.K. Best, a close friend of Gierach's, is included in many of the articles due to their relationship built around fly fishing. Best previously owned a fly shop in Colorado where he tied Artificial fly at a production level (tying many identical flies for international vendors).Cornett, Linda (April 23, 1984). "All Tied Up in His Work". The Boulder Daily Camera. He worked for the Orvis, creating fly tying tools and advertising flies, and was a signature tyer for Umpqua Feather Merchants.Umpqua Feather Merchants. "A.K. Best − Signature Tyers". Umpqua Feather Merchants. Gierach encouraged Best to start writing about production fly tying and fly fishing as a whole.Gierach, John. 1989. Introduction. In: Best, A.K. (1989). Production Fly Tying. Pruett Publishing Company.
After making a name for himself in angling magazines, Gierach's work garnered attention from Sports Illustrated and The Wall Street Journal, with the latter calling him "the voice of the common angler". He is one of the only angling authors to be published by a premier publishing house.
In 2015, he was inducted into the Catskills Fly Fishing Hall of Fame. The criteria include, amongst other traits, that the inductee has made "significant contributions to the sport" by furthering aquatic habitat understanding, innovating fly fishing techniques, or furthering appreciation and knowledge of the sport.
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