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 Randyflycaster |
#21 | |||
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Posts: 104 08/17/2009 09:51 |
If we look at the history of fly fishing in America, the most important change was the explosion of dry-fishing. I have to believe, therefore, that the book
that was the foundation for that
explosion, The Dry Fly and Fast Water, is the most important fly fishing book published in America. IMHO, it's still relevant today. Randy |
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Booman2 |
#22 | |||
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Posts: 584 08/18/2009 00:03 |
The November 1945 issue of Outdoors magazine has a great article on the subject by none other than Charles Goodspeed. "Favorite Sporting Books." In
the unlikely event that there is a forum member that does not own this issue, I could try to have someone with better computer skills than myself post it. Mr.
Goodspeed was a world famous rare book dealer in Boston, and the author of several books, including "Angling in America," itself a classic.
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Whitefish Press |
#23 | |||
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Posts: 526 08/18/2009 23:02 Sic transit piscatoria Clark's |
For those who haven't read it, A.I. Alexander's classic article "Secrets of the Dusty Trail" is available on-line here: http://www.firesideangler...retsofthedustytrail.html While it's not necessarily about
the top 10 books, it does hit on some of the great ones, and moreover is about the love of angling books. -- Dr. Todd
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Booman2 |
#24 | |||
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Posts: 585 08/19/2009 00:01 |
Good article, doctor. I had just pulled it out for a re-read. It was published in Volume 1, issue 3, Gray's Sporting journal, spring 1976. I'm also
trying to locate my copy of the 30 best fly fishing books, from Trout magazine.
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Booman2 |
#25 | |||
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Posts: 586 08/19/2009 01:01 |
I am still looking for the Trout article, but located a great article by Arnold Gingrich in The Flyfisher, vol. 2, 1968. He reviews 30 of the best, in 3
groups, classic, vintage and modern.
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JeffK.fiberglassflyro... |
#26 | |||
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Posts: 35 08/19/2009 16:49 |
I'm going basically American. IMHO, these affected how us Americans do things.
Ray Bergman and Thaddeus Norris top my list as people who can inform and entertain at the same time. They are high on my list. I think both greaty influenced the genial, conversational tone of most American fly fishing writing by coming across as your favorite "uncle". River Runs Through It is known as "the book" for good reasons and Gierach is hard to argue with. One more favorite for me has to be Dan Holland's Trout Fisherman's Bible. In the days of my youth I wasn't familiar with much fishing literature. No internet, no fly shops, and poor selection in the local library - but you could get a paperback of the Fly Fisherman's Bible cheap, so it was a primary source in my area. Memorable paraphrase - had a picture of a guy with huge trout on spinning tackle with the caption "before spinning few people knew first hand what a 2 lbs trout looked like." Schweibert's Trout is a milestone, but in my circles Swisher and Richards Selective Trout kicked in the match-the-hatch bug. Before River Runs Through It, the Curtiss Creek Manifesto got people to think of fly fishing in a different light. Unfortunately, you don't see it around much anymore. Any Ed Zern book got us fly fishers from taking ourselves too seriously. Gierach sort of does too, but there always seems to be a moral to the story. Ed Zern just points out our absurbities and leaves it at that. On the collector side AJ Campbell seriously affected me with the collecting disease - he tells a good story. Honorable mentions: Michael Sinclair for Rod Restoration Handbook - hey, you can do it too!. Jeff Hatton's Rod Crafting for giving a great impression of a huge collection of old rod without having to travel all over the country. |
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cdmoore |
Thanks | #27 | ||
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Posts: 3025 09/01/2009 22:43 Moderator |
Besides being what I think is an interesting topic and discussion, I've also taken down some leads on good books I've not yet read, so thanks. C
"If you finish in 7 days, I'll pay you for 10. If you finish in 10 days, I'll pay you for 7." ~Ballykissangel
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hdrmd |
#28 | |||
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Posts: 42 09/03/2009 17:56 |
I am glad someone remembered The Curtis Creek Manifesto. Add The River Why, Trout Madness, The Practical Fly Fisherman, The Well Tempered Angler, and as many
of John Gierach's books as needed to round the Top Ten. DR
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aquabonito |
#29 | |||
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Posts: 1061 09/30/2009 12:08 Angry Andy |
I've thought this one over a few times and having the benefit of what has already been posted, decided to tackle (no pun intended) it. Rather than rate
the books as a critic, an endeavor of which I am totally unqualified, I have instead attempted to list them in the order I read them. The list is not inclusive
of all the books I read in the span of time from 1949 to the present. It is instead a sequence of titles that were reflective of my fishing interests at the
time; a kind of a progression of what I have applied to my fly fishing skills.
Circa 1949 "Waters of the Golden Trout Country; I've forgotten the author, but interesting account of High Sierra Nevada fishing. Circa 1968 'Trout" - Ray Bergman; I bought this book as a result of a great sales pitch by Fran Betters. Of everything he sold me, and that was a lot of stuff, this was the best. He hit a home run; and hit nothing but pop flies thereafter. The book reawakened my interest in fly tying, something my Dad had gotten me interested many years earlier. Circa 1969 "Streamside Guide" - Art Flick; A Great primer on mayfly entomology and the tying of Catskill patterns. I still go back to it now and then as a reference. Absolutely best "bang for the buck" ever considering its size. I did indeed carry it on the stream with me on several occasions. Circa 1970 "Trout" - Joe Brooks; Just a good all round read. I don't remember what I particularly liked about it , but I know it was important to me at the time. Some great pictures of Joe with his Fin Nor reel. Joe was a local Maryland fisherman and wrote some of his articles about fishing here. He is best remembered for helping start the "Order of the Jungle Cocks", an organization devoted to taking a boy fishing. There is a nice stone memorial to him on the banks of Big Hunting Creek. Circa 1970 "Matching the Hatch" - Earnest Schweibert; A logical progression from the Streamside Guide. Its main interest to me was the Hatching Charts. His drawings were so good it was hard for me to believe that Ernest did them himself. A talent he put to great use in his later work. Circa early 1970's "Rising Trout" - Charles Fox; "A Modern Dry Fly Code" - Vince Marinero; "Fishing the Midge" - Ed Koch; I fished the Pennsylvania Limestones often because they were not too far from my home for a day's outing. It would be hard to find three authors more knowledgeable about Letort Spring Creek, Big Spring Creek, and the Yellow Breeches. I was skunked virtually every time I fished the LeTort, most of the time I fished Big Spring, but never totally skunked on the Yellow Breeches (that I can recall). Circa 1977 through 1990 " Nymph Fishing for Larger Trout" - Charles Brooks; A good guide to catching larger trout in the Yellowstone area. I asked Bob Jacklin about what he thought of the book and he said "Charles mostly recommends nymphs that are big and black, same advice every guide in town would give". "Western Fly Tying, Volume I" - Jack Dennis; It was my bible for many years. 2006 "Presenting the Fly" - Lefty Kreh; I got a signed copy as a gift. I've yet to finish it. But Lefty deserves a slot on anybodies list. Favorite bedtime reading - "McClanes New Standard Fishing Encyclopedia. I like to reminisce. 
"You can't make new old friends"
 Andy
Last Edited By: aquabonito 10/01/2009 09:50.
Edited 4 times.
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 PYochim |
#30 | |||
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Posts: 904 10/01/2009 19:39 |
aquabonito wrote:I do not read a lot of fishing books (too busy keeping current with work stuff), but these three are my favorites. One of my favorite passages from "Matching the Hatch" is where Schweibert describes fishing in the late evening expecting to be hailed by the ghost of Richard Robbins to assist him in tying on a fly. I read some of the earlier works by Gierach and was not particularly moved. I did not like the writing style of Lee Wulff. I just finished "Splitting Cane" by Engle which is a very nice read. Still, I'd rather be fishing than reading about it. I do have a few "coffee table" books featuring the photography of Val Atkinson.
Last Edited By: PYochim 10/02/2009 10:08.
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uwe |
#31 | |||
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Posts: 11 11/07/2009 16:37 |
I can highly recommend the following: Books by James R. Babb, Crosscurrents, River Music and Fly-Fishin' Fool. He is also the editor of Gray's Sporting
Journal.
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