Body of Water

A Sage, a Seeker, and the World's Most Alluring Fish

By: Chris Dombrowski

Narrated by: David Drummond

Chris Dombrowski was playing a numbers game: two passions - poetry and fly-fishing; two children, one of them in utero; and an income hovering perilously close to zero. Enter, at this particularly challenging moment, a miraculous email: can't go, it's all paid for, just book a flight to Miami.

Thus began a journey that would lead to the Bahamas and to David Pinder, a legendary bonefishing guide. Bonefish are prized for their elusiveness and their tenacity. And no one was better at hunting them than Pinder, a Bahamian whose accuracy and patience were virtuosic. He knows what the fish think, said one fisherman, before they think it.

By the time Dombrowski meets Pinder, however, he has been abandoned by the industry he helped build. With cataracts from a lifetime of staring at the water and a tiny severance package after 40 years of service, he watches as the world of his beloved bonefish is degraded by tourists he himself did so much to attract. But as Pinder's stories unfold, Dombrowski discovers a profound integrity and wisdom in the guide's life.

©2016 Chris Dombrowski (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Dombrowski's foray into nonfiction proves as thematically complex, finely wrought, and profoundly life-affirming as his poetry." ( Publishers Weekly)

Splendid...

Beautiful story and well-deserved tribute. The storytelling puts you on the flats and in the company of those in the story. Nicely done, CD.

new favorite book!

new favorite book! everything I felt about fly fishing for bonefish/ the ocean but didn't know how to say.

Great bonefish story

Great book learned a great deal about bonefish and the Bahamian history. A good listen

Doesn’t matter if you fish

For lovers of Thoreau, Lopez, Dillard and the like this book will transform the way you think about water. And fish.

Fantastic book, well worth your time to listen

A very well written and executed book. Chapters flowed from one to the next. Chris's work is hard to be surpassed, well worth the time and money