Go hunting and fishing with Mike Yurk in Hunters Moon, Fishermans Sun. It is a collection of twenty two stories that will take you from Alaska to Key West with a lot of time in the upper Mid West where Mike grew up and still lives. It begins with memories of opening day of the fishing season and ends with a long winter followed by two more opening days. In between we fish for halibut in Alaska, hunt pheasants in South Dakota and get a fish fry in Key West. We go back with Mike to when he was a boy and young man learning to hunt. He takes us with him hunting for big ducks on a big lake, a pond where he hunted for geese, the joys of hunting on Saturdays, and shooting rabbits in the snow. We go ice fishing when the walleyes went nuts on his favorite home lake and again on a northern Minnesota lake where friends gather in the winter for a special ice fishing event. The stories move from the past to the present. There are memories of Lake Michigan as a boy to many years later catching salmon there. There are recollections of fishing with his grandfather and father on a beloved river to now teaching his grandson to fish for bass. There are the days of unlimited joy of summer vacation as a boy to a perfect summer day catching smallmouth bass as a much older fisherman. The stories are more then just catching fish or shooting game. They are about people, both in the past and present, and the impact they have on the days of a hunters moon or a fishermans sun.

Key West is home to sinners and saints, to dreamers and the hopeless, smugglers and pirates as well as writers, artists, singers and other visionaries. Mike Yurk has visited Key West for over twenty years and from the very beginning fell in love with the weather, life style, people and fishing found in Key West. He put his love of Key West into this book. Although a lot of this book is about fishing, it is also about Key West itself. In Going Back To Key West join Mike as he wonders around Key West, the people he meets and the ambiance of one of the most unique cities in America. As well, travel with Mike through Hemingway Country to visit the places, Key West and others, which have been so pivotal to the life of one of America’s greatest writers. End the book with Mike’s and his wife, Becky’s recommendations of the best places to visit in Key West plus their favorite restaurants and bars. Key West isn’t just a place; it is an experience.

Notes From The Dockside Volume IV will take you from lessons in life to the joys of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Join Mike Yurk as he explores the adventures of fishing. Meet his beloved Bass Queen, his buddy The Commissioner, his faithful mechanic The Boat Doctor along with other friends and family who join him on the water. The seventy- four stories found in this volume will take you to Panama and the Bahamas, to a rainy day in France, as well as the many lakes in Northwestern Wisconsin where Mike lives and fishes. Find the wonder of the outdoors in Northern Minnesota were the last of the original, old pine trees remain from before the days of logging and a Viking relic which could be the first fishing story carved in stone. Equipment, baits, lures all playing an integral part to fishing are part of the stories too. Through these stories Mike explores the many sides of fishing from good luck to bad luck, small and big fish and sometimes few fish. There is much more to fishing than just catching fish as Mike explores new and old lakes, good weather and bad, memories of old friends now gone and young fisher people who are just beginning to find the love of angling. Spend a day on the water with Mike and his fishing buddies, young and old, and experience the passion and excitement which comes with fishing and what makes it so special. “Mike Yurk is a seasoned angler and author who has filled his stringer with stores on water near and far. Pull up a seat and let him share his tales in Notes From The Dockside one pleasing nugget at a time.” Paul Smith, Outdoor Editor, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

The places we fish and people we are with takes us on new adventures in Mike Yurk’s latest book, Other Waters. Follow Mike as he takes you from Costa Rico to catch marlin, to Mexico for sailfish and big bass to Canada’s Northwest Territories fishing for giant lake trout. In between are other waters; streams, rivers, ponds and lakes both big and small forming memorable fishing with unforgettable companions. There are two trout streams in northern Wisconsin from Mike’s youth to years later two other steams in North Carolina’s Appalachian Mountains. Rivers such as Wisconsin’s Wolf and Fox Rivers fishing in his early years with his father and grandfather brings us to the Mississippi River today fishing with buddies near his home in northwestern Wisconsin. Another river in Missouri takes us on legendary float fishing one of Ozarks premier waters. Go trout fishing in a military training area in Germany where the weather is always challenging. Two small ponds in Alabama as well as a large impoundment lake teaches Mike about bass fishing. Join Mike during the winter when he fishes through the ice on several Wisconsin lakes. Another Wisconsin lake never disappoints with both muskies and bass. There are other waters close to his home, fishing for smallmouth bass in Lake Superior, walleyes in northern Minnesota and largemouth bass and panfish at a lake known simply as Lake X to protect its identity. Exploring other waters bring both successes and disappointments along with new sights and sounds. As important as the waters Mike fishes are those who join him on these travels and ventures along with the people he meets while fishing other waters. Other Waters is book of people and places and adventures and fishing, making a lifetime of memories.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1837.

"Other Voices, Other Towns" has, in reality, taken Caleb Pirtle III a lifetime to write. During the thirty years he has been writing about travel across this great land, he spent much of his time listening to those whose paths he crossed. Pirtle collects people. He collects their stories. He is firmly convinced that everyone who has ever walked across the street has a great story to tell if only someone will take the time to listen. Pirtle has recorded many of them in "Other Voices, Other Towns." The sketches, the anecdotes, the tales they tell, the memories they have stored, their lessons of life make you feel better or make you want to cry. Their stories are filled with disappointments and with inspiration: The blind man who tends his beehives in the Smoky Mountains and knows that someday "I'm going to where the mountains are higher and prettier and you don't get bee stung." The rancher who bought a whole town because it had a beer joint, and he could get a drink any time he was thirsty. The woman who built a major university on the strength of a dime. The grieving father searching for "the best little girl in the world." The vagabond who became a great writer because he flunked grammar and could not enroll in college. The last man on the mountain, the last survivor on an island, the last woman strong enough to tame though not civilize the Okefenokee Swamp. The teacher who taught history in school by singing the lessons he had written as songs. The men who created "Lum and Abner." The scientist digging for clues to prove a space ship had crashed in the backyard of Aurora, Texas. The performer who rescued the abandoned remains of a crumbling theater. The actor who figured out that a theater ticket was worth a mess of greens or a gallon milk during the Great Depression. The old con artist and wildcatter who defied the odds and discovered a great oilfield. The politician who had one cause, passed it in the legislature, and went home because there were no other bills that concerned him. The fishermen who stumbled across pearls in a landlocked lake. The girl singer who rode in a small RV behind the star until she became the star. The sad journey down the trail of broken promises. And the greatest worm fiddler of them all. For Pirtle, other voices in other towns, have all been joined together to form the traveler's story.