Gone Fishing

Whether hiking through a farm field in search of a trout stream or stretching out in a folding chair waiting for the next bite, anglers agree on one point: that the joy of fishing is not so much at the end of the line, but in the lapping of water, the calls of birds and insects, the sun, the snow, and the stars, and the people met along the way. In Gone Fishing,  photographer Bob Rashid captures this elusive truth in word and image: there’s more to fishing than catching fish.

With camera in hand, Rashid spent nearly a year with dozens of Wisconsin anglers—men, women, and children. From spearing sturgeon through the ice on Lake Winnebago to pursuing the wily muskellunge on a placid Vilas County night, Rashid captures on film the myriad incarnations of Wisconsin fishing. Nearly ninety full-color photographs, accompanied by Rashid’s engaging narrative, lavishly evoke the traditions and culture of fishing in Wisconsin (including fish fries and catfish queens).

A companion book to Wisconsin Public Television’s hour-long special “Gone Fishing,” this volume expands upon that program, chronicling people and places that the film crew didn’t reach. Gone Fishing will charm everyone interested in fishing—novice and expert alike.

Bob Rashid (1949–2008) was a Wisconsin photographer whose work appeared in Time, Newsweek, the New York Times,Wisconsin Trails, the Milwaukee Journal, and other national and international publications. He documented rural Wisconsin in his photographs for  the book Wisconsin's Rustic Roads and exhibited his work throughout Wisconsin.