How does one follow the life of a river, a region, a way of living? By asking those who know it the best and love it the most, those who foster the law and lore surrounding it, those who keep the old wisdom alive and guard the myths. By this measure, John Tate is an expert, with nearly sixty years of angling behind him and a few good years ahead yet. One of the few willing to shoulder responsibility for himself and his sport, John shows us how angling can make one's world better, more civilised, and how the world of angling could be improved. He also presents a more spiritual view: angling is a way in which to participate in the universe.