The book is part memoir, part meditation, and part fishing journal. Mike Carotta takes us through five decades of surfcasting on Martha’s Vineyard, but fishing is only the surface. Beneath the striped bass and bluefish lies a deeper story about fathers and sons, the friendships that form in salt spray, and the way a place can wrap itself around your heart. He writes about the rhythms of the tide, the cast of characters who gather every spring, and the sense of the sacred that can sneak up on you when you’re standing waist-deep in the Atlantic. It’s not a manual on how to catch more fish. It’s a love letter to memory, ritual, and the Island itself.

Carotta admits, again and again, that he’s not all that great at fishing, and that humility makes the book sing. The style is conversational and warm, the kind of voice you want around a campfire after a long day outside. I found myself laughing at his stubbornness about new techniques, nodding along when he described how old hurts can fester, and tearing up when he spoke of his father. He isn’t afraid to mix the mundane with the profound. One page has him fumbling with tackle, the next has him brushing up against something eternal.

I loved how he wove in the idea of “liminal space,” that thin place where heaven and earth feel closer. His way of describing the Vineyard at night, with stars overhead and saltwater in his boots, made me feel like I was right there beside him. By the end, I wasn’t thinking about fishing at all. I was thinking about family traditions, about the way landscapes hold onto us, about how we carry certain people with us long after they’re gone.

A Long Cast is not only for fishermen, though anglers will find plenty to savor. It’s for anyone who knows what it feels like to return year after year to a place that heals you. It’s for readers who like stories told straight from the heart, without polish or pretense. If you’ve ever stood in your own version of the surf, whether that’s a kitchen, a church, or a backyard garden, you’ll find yourself in these pages.

Pages: 182 | ISBN : 978-1611535334