I watched a film based on the book around 10 years ago. It was on a video CD without subtitles. I didn't understand all of it. But I thought it was really charming. I liked the ensemble cast and the amazing background score. I kept postponing reading the book due to sheer laziness but ordered it on Book-finder recently and liked the book as much as I liked the film.
The film is set in the idyllic Key West. Mcguane (who also wrote the book the film is based on) creates these eccentric characters who have no real future. There is Tom Skelton who was a druggie and is now trying to move in on the guiding business of two regular skiff guides. This sets off a potentially murderous rivalry between him and the alcoholic and suicidal Nicol Dance. Carter, another guide plays them against each other even as he struggles with the promiscuity of his ex-cheerleader wife. Skelton's family is also quite dysfunctional with his rich, corrupt and powerful grandfather constantly bullying his bed-ridden father. There is even a character named Myron Moorhen!
I also love the film's idyllic score which makes you want to have a drink. The cast is stellar - Oates, Stanton, Fonda, Kidder, Meredith etc.
A scene that is unforgettable - Fonda following a fish that has bit into the bait of a loud unlikable couple and freeing it. Everything works in that scene - the surroundings and the music.
A dialog from the film that stuck with me: "The captain-or guide-experienced a sudden loss of interest-or ambition-and flaked out without warning"