Casting Onward - by Steve Ramirez (Hardcover)

About the Book

It is a story of fishing and friendship - a story of humanity's impact on nature, and nature's impact on humanity.

Book Synopsis

In writing this book, author, naturalist, and educator Steve Ramirez traveled thousands of miles by plane, motor vehicle, boat, and foot. Each chapter includes his fishing with a notable person in the worlds of fishing and conservation. His fishing partners in this book include Bob White, Chris Wood, Kirk Deeter (and many other leaders within Trout Unlimited), Ted Williams of The Native Fish Coalition, Matthew Miller, and John Karges of The Nature Conservancy, and many more.

In the course of this journey, Ramirez explores and fishes mountain streams, alpine lakes, National Wild and Scenic Rivers, desert canyons, brackish water estuaries, and the rolling ocean off the coast of Cape Cod. About half of this book was written while traveling through the COVID-19 pandemic and it touches on the lessons that COVID can teach us about nature and human nature.

In Casting Onward, the author expands beyond the geographical scope of Casting Forward by fishing for native fish within their original habitats across American. Each story is told in part through the eyes of the people who have lived alongside and come to love, these waters and fish. Woven throughout these adventures are the stories of the people he meets and befriends while pursuing a mutual love of nature and the best of human nature, as the first criterion for finding common ground.

This is a hopeful story, in an all-too-often seemingly hopeless time. It is a story of fishing and friendship. It is a story of humanity's impact on nature, and nature's impact on humanity.

From the Back Cover

Steve Ramirez, Author Bio, Casting Onward (Inside Back Jacket-Cover) Steve Ramirez is an outdoor and conservation author who lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country. Steve's first book, Casting Forward - Fishing Tales from the Texas Hill Country, (Lyons Press) has received critical acclaim, and is in its second printing. His work has appeared in various journals including Fly Fisherman Magazine, Trout Magazine, The Flyfish Journal, American Angler, Tail Magazine, Texas Sporting Journal, Explore Magazine, Under Wild Skies, Cutthroat: Journal of the Arts, The Houston Literary Review, and many more. Steve serves as the Ambassador for Texas, for the American Museum of Fly-Fishing, is a Life Member of Trout Unlimited, and a contributing member of the Nature Conservancy, Audubon, and the Native Fish Coalition. As a certified Master Naturalist, Steve is passionately involved in promoting the restoration and conservation of the watersheds, rivers, canyons, forests, deserts, wetlands, grasslands, and shorelines of North America and beyond. He is an avid hiker and world adventure traveler who has explored four continents, but who always seems to return home to the spring fed Hill Country streams of Texas. "Teaser" (Inside Front Jacket-Cover) How do we find healing and hope in an all too often wounded and seemingly hopeless world? What can be done to save the sacred places and wildlife that are threatened by the unending advance of humanity, and the unfortunate expansion of apathy? In this second installment of the "Casting Forward" series, Steve Ramirez takes us on an outdoor adventure, fly-fishing and hiking across the rivers, streams, and shores of North America, in search of native gamefish, meaningful friendships, and a more hopeful future. Casting Onward is the story of adapting to the rapidly unfolding transitions of the Earth's changing climate, both natural and human. It is the story of finding our tribe and uniting in the creation of a better future. It is a tribute to the resilience of humanity and nature, and a call for hopeful action. In Casting Onward, the existence or absence of native fish becomes a bellwether for the success or failure of human impacts on once healthy, whole, living, environments. It seeks to answer the questions about those things in life that truly matter, and what is most worth fighting to restore, preserve, and protect, across this great nation. It askes the core question that humanity needs to ask itself... "Are the choices we are making, healthy... or wise?" It doesn't matter if you are an angler, hiker, naturalist, or simply find peace walking in a city park... Casting Onward will transport you to times and places where you too can explore and experience the power of nature and the best of human nature.

Review Quotes

"(Steve) has produced a book of lively, well-drawn essays that show us as much about the state of the nation's fisheries; the personalities of local anglers, guides and environmentalists; and the prospects for the future of angling for all species from trout to bass to bluegill." - Gray's Sporting Journal

"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

"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

"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, 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

"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 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

"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 has seldom been touched with such respect and eloquence."

-- Kirk Deeter, Editor-in-Chief, Trout Unlimited/Trout Magazine

"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 know

NetGalley:4 stars

Last updated on 22 Jan 2022

"Admittedly, I am not an angler. However, all the menfolk in my home are passionate anglers and have taught me a lot over the years. I may not enjoy being the one to put my line in the water, but I love celebrating their successes and learnings along the way. Early on, they taught me the importance of respecting the fish and their habitat. They are sticklers for the rules and helped me understand why. I can appreciate someone's passion and get excited when they can explain and express it in ways that I can understand. This memoir resonated with much of what has been shared by other enthusiasts. I especially enjoyed the CO River Cutthroat Trout chapter, as that is where my most prevalent experiences originated, and I could resonate the most with the content. Each chapter is full of tales that bring Steve's experiences to life. An enjoyable read for an afternoon of curiosity.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley and all opinions expressed are solely my own, freely given."--Brandi Rawlins, consumer reviewer

About the Author

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 Boerne, Texas.