It’s amusing that Chris Hunt’s “20 Questions” interview of The Genius Behind The Trout Underground (stop looking around you dolts, that’s me) begins with the line “Tom Chandler is, if nothing else, busy.”

I’m busy enough that I’ve largely declared online bankruptcy, so I didn’t notice the interview was published (last week) until a reader told me yesterday. (As you can see, nothing in the fly fishing world escapes me.)

Yes, two Trout Underground interviews in two months; it's a world gone mad...

Fortunately, Hunt — who now works for Trout Unlimited (the other, less-popular TU) and writes the popular Eat More Brook Trout blog — handles the email interview skillfully (more skillfully than the interviewee), and as Gierach pointed out, few writers have the willpower to skip past their own reviews.

Here’s an excerpt that caught my eye:

He’s witty and maybe a bit of a cynic–if you’ve ready any of his posts at TU, you already know that his writing has an edge to it that does one of two things: it either makes you think to yourself, “Damn, I wish I had written that,” or, frankly, it turns you off. It’s honest writing though, and even if you don’t like the message, I think, deep down, you likely admire the way it’s delivered.

Having recently been called out by name by another blogger for being “boring,” I find I like “edgy” better, though I always wonder how much of my edge is real and how much is simple sleep deprivation.

After reading the interview, I get the sense I really am too busy for my own good; I see too many very obvious, very missed opportunities.

Then again, writers and regret have always come as a matched set.

Still, we’re all about crowdsourcing here at TU, so feel free to read the interview, and leave a comment (on his blog or mine), and let me know what you think.

While you’re at it, take a look at Hunt’s fly fishing essay book (Shin Deep). I own a copy, read it, liked it, and yet still haven’t reviewed it (that busy thing again).

See you on the rubber chicken circuit, Tom Chandler