Burke, Monte

PERSONAL: Male.

ADDRESSES: Office—Forbes, 60 5th Ave., New York, NY 10011. Agent—Simon Green, Pom Inc., 611 Broadway, No. 907B, New York, NY 10012. E-mail—Monte@monteburke.com.

CAREER: Forbes, New York, NY, staff writer.

WRITINGS:

(Coeditor) Leaper: The Wonderful World of Atlantic Salmon Fishing, Lyons Press (Guilford, CT), 2001.

Sowbelly: The Obsessive Quest for the World Record Largemouth Bass, Dutton (New York, NY), 2005.

Frequent contributor to Field & Stream and other outdoorsman journals.

SIDELIGHTS: An avid angler, Monte Burke applies his journalistic skills to his hobby in Sowbelly: The Obsessive Quest for the World Record Largemouth Bass. Since George Washington Parry allegedly caught a 22-pound, 4-ounce bass in 1932 that was immediately eaten, serious anglers have been trying to surpass his feat. While also engaged in this attempt, Burke encounters an assortment of interesting characters who devote large amounts of time and energy to their quest. "Unsponsored and comparatively unknown, this eccentric yet elite bunch delightfully gets its due from Monte Burke," according to Deborah Weisberg in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. These characters include Mike Long, who fishes in disguise in order to throw off the competition; Porter Hall, whose obsession helped end his marriage; and Bob Crupi, who also risked divorce when he chose to fish rather than be present at the birth of his daughter. He also describes the opportunists and outright frauds who plague the true anglers. In addition, "Burke sprinkles ruminations on the science and details of bass fishing, nicely sewing together a well-paced tale," noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Among other subjects, he covers attempts to breed a super bass and the surprising popularity of a sport that claims over eleven million devotees and may be on the verge of achieving mainstream success on the order of NASCAR races. The result, for Booklist reviewer Alan Moores, is an "engaging, informed account of the sport."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 11, 2005, Alan Moores, review of Sowbelly: The Obsessive Quest for the World Record Largemouth Bass, p. 928.

Business Record (Des Moines, IA), May 9, 2005, review of Sowbelly, p. 25.

Library Journal, March 1, 2005, Jim Casada, review of Sowbelly, p. 94.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 24, 2005, Deborah Weisberg, review of Sowbelly.

Publishers Weekly, February 7, 2005, review of Sowbelly, p. 56.

ONLINE

Alabama Booksmith, http://www.alabamabooksmith.com/ (September 12, 2005), review of Sowbelly.

Monte Burke Home Page, http://www.monteburke.com (September 12, 2005).

Southern Living Online, http://www.southernliving.com/ (September 12, 2005), review of Sowbelly.