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Praise for Casting Onward
"Simply, a book about fish species to be forever cherished from a writer to be revered. Casting Onward deserves a prominent place on every angler's bookshelf."
Gary Bethge
Deputy Editor,
Field & Stream and Outdoor Life
“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.”
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Kirk Deeter,
Editor-in-Chief,
Trout Unlimited/Trout Magazine
"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
“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
Ted Williams
National Chair
Native Fish Coalition
“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.”
“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
"Fish on! And heart hooked too! Set the drag to play Steve Ramirez's words for a while. Enjoy the long runs with nature nurturers knee deep in western trout streams and strapped into the fighting chair over the ocean's abysmal deep. With rod and reel connecting us to places wild and within city limits across the country, we see how Ramirez's adventures with fellow fisher people bring us closer to making this world a better place -- fish by fish. No slot to heed other than your soul's span. Heart is in the creel with Casting Onward. Enjoy!"
J. Drew Lanham
author of The Home Place -- Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature
Jason Rolfe
Editor, The Flyfish Journal
“Casting Onward is nothing if not a conversation—with native fish, with nature, and with the people who love and fight for both. Steve Ramirez asks numerous important questions in that conversation, but more importantly he has the unique—and increasingly rare—gift of listening wholeheartedly to the answers. Pull up a chair, it’s a conversation you don’t want to miss.”
“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 knows if we’re ever to get out of our current mess, we need each other. This is a lyrical, funny, and frequently moving account of what matters in a life well lived: friendship and fishing and wild places among them.”
Matt Miller
author of Fishing Through the Apocalypse