As I was trashing my way through a small Central NY stream yesterday (stinging nettle, poison ivy, grapevine, et al), I thought about Neil Patterson's
"Chalkstream Chronicle" (Lyons & Burford - 1995) and contemplated how nice it would be to fish a well managed, meadow stream in high summer. Mr.
Patterson's book is a wonderful account of finding a place on an English chalkstream and making it his own. There are great descriptions of the characters
who frequent "the Hollow" and the natural history of the place that he has come to love. The inside cover is a hand drawn map with place names that
put me in mind of Tolkien's "Shire" ("back of beyond", "rookery nook", "sticklepath bridge") and I found myself
drawn to it throughout the book's seasonal journey. This is indeed very different fishing (and living) than my freestone experience and was a delightful
read. I expect that others on this forum might enjoy it as well.
Dan
Dan
