In his debut book, 82-year-old Tony Taylor looks back on a life of fishing and adventure in England, Australia and British Columbia. It reads like the man is setting things down at the end of life and is part angling memoir, part guide for living and part paean to nature, especially the wild rivers of Vancouver Island and the salmon that support the region’s rich biodiversity.

For Taylor, ‘Life is an adventure searching for answers. They are best looked for in remote places where civilisation hasn’t taken hold.’ Answers, and the odd aside on globalisation, are set down with the assuredness of a man with a full, inquisitive life behind him.

There is longing for what has been lost too. Amongst the epic salmon runs and giant pristine forests of yesteryear is Taylor’s present-day wish to connect with his eight-year-old grandson through fishing; Ned is the same age as his father when Taylor’s marriage broke up in the late 60s and he repaired alone to the Cowichan River.

The river is Tony’s special place, the one that centres him and offers up wisdom unfathomable elsewhere. While awaiting Ned’s arrival, Tony describes the river as the elixir of life – indeed, he retains a youthful curiosity and exuberance – but in terms distinctly scientific. Venturing from his cabin with fly rod in hand, Tony joins frontier characters like Big Arthur the sasquatch poacher who fishes with a gaff and Donny the cougar hunter with his tidy fortune made from scalps. There are also lessons at the foot of the indigenous Nitinat people and, later, Ned, but mostly the teacher is the river itself.

If you’re one for life lived in thrall of wild places, parallels between fishing and living, or listening to tales of an octogenarian raconteur, this one’s for you.

Jason Cotter is a friend of Readings