What People Are Saying

“Lately I don’t read many books to the end; this one I did.  Peppered with wry observations and quick, unexpected humor, Catching On is about love, fishing, and God, not necessarily in that order.  This is a wonderfully written, feel-good love story, not so much about the love of fishing but of loving fishermen and coming to understand them and  their magnificent obsession. A Southern gal’s falling for a Northwest fishing guy, landing him on light tippet, and not throwing him back makes for a joyful and satisfying read. Compared to the old Sicilian folk saying, ‘He would seek revenge should dig two graves,’ Carol Morrison doesn’t even pick up a shovel.  This book could save marriages.”

—Paul Quinett, Ph.D., author of Pavlov’s Trout, Darwin’s Bass, and Fishing Lessons

"It was amazing how many of these stories hit home. We found ourselves chuckling and nodding the whole time. The southern tone made it all the more fun. A must for every woman who’s ever rolled over in a warm bed at five a.m. and realized she’s been abandoned for a cold trout stream." 

—Sally Bastine and Lori Dorn, wives of avid fly fishers

“If Patrick McManus was from the South and a woman and a psychotherapist and a closet preacher who was lousy at fishing and didn’t care, and was fiercely fond of married life despite striking out at it twice and prayed the third time was the charm, and who after work Friday wrote a sermon and Saturday fished and Saturday night did a stint at a local club, now and then, as a stand-up comic and Sunday delivered her sermon then Sunday afternoon went fishing again, and fished gratefully, however lousily, and returned home to her spouse even more gratefully, I guess she wouldn’t be Patrick McManus. But she would know the pleasure of having written a book as amiable and gentle-hearted as Carol Morrison’s Catching On.”

—David James Duncan, author of The River Why and My Story as Told by Water

"In this moving, poignant, and willing-to-laugh-at-herself journey, the reader witnesses, and becomes immersed in, the author’s emotional and spiritual evolution as she appreciates her husband’s fly-fishing passion and how she fits into it. The heart contained in these stories can serve as a fine model for relationship. Should be read by anyone learning to love and be loved."

—Elizabeth E. Landrum, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Relationship Specialist

"Girl from the Deep South falls madly and passionately in love with boy from Seattle, and they marry, and she spends the next 20 years trying to understand and cope with her jealousy of his other love and passion, fly fishing. A river runs through this love story, deep and wide, sometimes rocky and swift-moving and oftentimes gently gurgling. It’s their story, which she’s written, the ultimate catch-and-release epic in which she comes to grips with his fly fishing, and learns to release him, gently, to this watery passion. . . . A wonderfully warm and ofttimes funny book."

—John Hahn, columnist, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Catching On is touted for the spouse of a fly fisherman, but everyone will find pleasure in these short stories. Author Carol Morrison attempts to understand her husband's fly fishing passion, how she fits into it, and how to build a marriage as graceful and colorful as a damselfly on home waters." 

—Carol Howard Johnson, This is the Place, and reviewer for My Shelf, Blether, and Word Museum

"Feel sorry for Ed Morrison—he taught his wife Carol to fly fish, never tumbling to the fact that what she really had in mind was this great book. The couple—professional marriage counselors—live on the South Fork of the Snoqualmie in the Puget Sound area, so they have lots of territory to practice all their skills."

—Virgil Rupp, Reviewer for Northwest Books, The East Oregonian