Here is a quote from Trout Fishing in America:

Knock on Wood
(Part One)
As a child when did I first hear about trout fishing in America? From whom? I guess it was a stepfather of mine.
Summer of 1942.
The old drunk told me about trout fishing. When he could talk, he had a way of describing trout as if they were a precious and intelligent metal.
Silver is not a good adjective to describe what I felt when he told me about trout fishing.
I'd like to get it right.
Maybe trout steel. Steel made from trout. The clear snow-filled river acting as foundry and heat.
Imagine Pittsburgh.
A steel that comes from trout, used to make buildings, trains and tunnels.
The Andrew Carnegie of Trout!

The Reply of Trout Fishing in America:
I remember with particular amusement, people with three-cornered hats fishing in the dawn.

In his time, his books sold very well but the awards that today sometimes seem to flow like rain never fell his way. Perhaps, given his dissolution, judges could not envision him standing at a podium sober. He was unpredictable and the very definition of counter-culture. He was also important and many will find, in the reading of these two books, answers to many questions they have never asked but always wanted answered.