In addition to thanking the literary journal Spank the Carp, who published an early incarnation of the monster-carp chapter, I’d like to thank everyone involved in this monsterquest—from the editors, board members, and staff at the University of Nebraska Press (particularly Matt Bokovoy, Heather Stauffer, Rosemary Sekora, Sara Springsteen, and Kyle Simonsen) to the guides and specialists I worked with in the field (especially Drew Price, Captain John Krol, Fabrizio Terenghi, and Luca De Prezzi) to all the suppliers of images who provided permissions. I’m grateful as well to the University of Central Arkansas for a research-based leave of absence that allowed for some relief from the monstrosities of academia, as well as the Marist College Florence campus, whose staff, administrators, teachers, and students provided lodging and fine company while I realized the last half of this book. None of this would have been possible, however, without support from the Estate of Nancy MacKenzie, whose foresight and fighting spirit will always serve as an example of how to live a life with purpose.
Thanks also to the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society, who awarded an earlier version of this manuscript the honor of shortlist finalist in their 2017 William Faulkner–William Wisdom Narrative Nonfiction Competition.
Special acknowledgments to Scotty “Goggle Eye” Lewis for assistance with gar on the fly, Bill Wilmert for gar-fly-fishing guidance, Rob Watts for an insider look at Euro carp culture, Lee Merritt for helping a brother out, and Dr. Robert “Turkey Buzzard” Mauldin for translating the language of carbon calculations into layman’s terms. Thanks also to my nephew River Rasmussen for being just as excited as me to reel in a dogfish, and über-angler Henry Hughes for invaluable fish knowledge and top-shelf editing advice. Special thanks as well to Thomas McGuane for inspiring a necessary, terrifying, and sobering introspection.
But mostly, I’d like to thank poet-scholar Lea Graham, who accompanied me on many of these expeditions, for being there and being who she is: an extremely fun traveling companion whose encouragement and perspective have added profound depths to the quality of this fisherman’s existence. I’m lucky to have her in my life and as my wife, and I dedicate this book to her in the hope that this effort will create some converts to help preserve what we’ve got left.