posted by admin on Jan 15

The Fly Fishing Anthology: John Gierach, Mallory Burton, Ernest Hemingway

Editorial Reviews

Review
“…satisfies [anglers'] desires by bringing together light, playful sketches, and tales…with attractive photographs, paintings and illustrations.” — Aethlon: The Journal of Sports Literature, September 2005

Review
Aethlon: The Journal of Sports Literature, University of Pittsburgh, Spring 2005 (circ. unavailable) “Fly fishing anglers repeatedly stress the art of their sport – the process of tying, reading the river and casting – above the catching. The makers of this book know that to be a huge self-deception. Fly fishers – like all anglers –thrill over catching beautiful fish in beautiful places. The Fly Fishing Anthology satisfies these desires by bringing together light, playful sketches and tales – full of catching – with attractive photographs, paintings and illustrations.”

Order The Fly Fishing Anthology: John Gierach, Mallory Burton, Ernest Hemingway form Amazon.

posted by admin on Jan 14

Unforgettable Days: Montana Trout Fishing: D. D. Dowden, Chris Cauble

Editorial Reviews

Review
“Dramatic and enchanting.” — Kalispell Daily Interlake

“I’ll break my rules for this keeper. It deserves a season or two on the end table.” — Great Falls Tribune

“If you ever need a gift for a fly fishing friend, this is a great one.” — Billings Gazette

“great photos and great writing that will leave anglers remembering their best days” — Helena Independent Record

The perfect addition to your “end table”! An 8″ x 7″ hardcover with jacket with stunning color photos that capture the essence of trout fishing in the world’s most fabled waters. A great gift at a great price!

Order Unforgettable Days: Montana Trout Fishing: D. D. Dowden, Chris Cauble form Amazon.

posted by admin on Jan 14

Friends on the Water: Fly Fishing in Good Company: R. Valentine Atkinson

Editorial Reviews

Of all of life’s companionable activities, there’s nothing like fly fishing to cement new friendships or renew old ones. In Friends on the Water, internationally acclaimed fly-fishing photographer Val Atkinson captures the experiences of camaraderie and communion that seem always to happen when good friends travel together to fly-fishing’s wondrous kingdom.

Atkinson’s evocative images record the many moments that build and bind relationships—moments that angling companions remember for a lifetime. Longtime and newfound friends, husbands and wives, fathers with their sons and daughters—all the permutations of human bonding are to be found in this wonderful book’s pages. And it’s not just person-to-person relationships that Atkinson cares about; there’s a special place in his heart for the friendship between a fisherman and his dog.

Friends on the Water assembles the photos that, in his words, best illustrate Atkinson’s enthusiasm for wild and romantic places, and for the family, friends, and acquaintances with whom he has enjoyed them. Complementing the book’s beautiful pictures are quotes, essays, and stories from famous angler-writers including Ernest Schweibert, Nick Lyons, Zane Grey, Tom McGuane, and Margot Page. This year, there’s no better Father’s Day or birthday gift for the fly-fishing companion in your life.

About the Author
R. VALENTINE ATKINSON is an internationally acclaimed and much-published photographer specializing in fly-fishing lifestyle and travel whose assignments have taken him to 28 countries. He divides his work between advertising, corporate, and editorial photography and operates his own stock photo library with 80,000 images on file. Atkinson’s books include Distant Waters, Trout and Salmon, and The Greatest Flyfishing Around the World. He was recently inducted into the Flyfishing Hall of Fame. Please visit his Web site at www.valatkinson.com.

Order Friends on the Water: Fly Fishing in Good Company: R. Valentine Atkinson form Amazon.

posted by admin on Jan 14

Fly Fishing With A. K.: A. K. Best

Editorial Reviews

Fly Fishing With A.K. is a Stackpole Books publication.

About the Author
A.K. Best is a Stackpole Books author.

Order Fly Fishing With A. K.: A. K. Best form Amazon.

posted by admin on Jan 14

Moon Pulled Up an Acre of Bass, The: A Flyrodder's Odyssey at Montauk Point: Peter Kaminsky

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The East Coast migratory striped bass has the same trans-species attachment with Long Islanders as the blue crab does with the Chesapeake region, and the cod with New Englanders; striper fishing is nowhere more exciting, or more socially complicated, than in early fall off Montauk, New York. After the summer tide of celebrities and vacationers leaves the beaches, local sportfishers form their own society around the parade of southbound migrations. Not the average “hook and bullet” reporter, Kaminsky took a sabbatical from his New York Times column to fly-fish Montauk Point through the October peak, lured by the life fantasy of one dream fly-fishing season, an angling “walkabout into something perfect and outside of time.” The tides of his obsession with the fish in this place occasionally carry him way offshore into social history, local color and ecology of the bass. The real prose action is on the shallow flats of Great Peconic Bay and in the jockeying among guide boats and surf casters for prime casting positions for “blitzes” of feeding 40-inch bass. Kaminsky (whose cookbook, Elements of Taste, is due out from Little, Brown in October) is neither the first nor the most stylish voice for this fish and this place (the Montauk bass fishery has its own shelf in angling literature, which includes John Cole’s Striper and Peter Matthiessen’s Men’s Lives). Nonetheless, most Eastern fly rodders will revel in Kaminsky’s walkabout and feel as wistful as he does when the cold northeast winds finally put down the fish in November.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
In this beguiling memoir, New York Times sportswriter Kaminsky recounts how he lived an angler’s dream: fishing every fishable day at the peak of striped-bass season at Montauk Point on Long Island’s East End. When Kaminsky wasn’t pursuing bass with fly tackle from a boat, he was indulging his passion for cooking (while staying at the summer home of the late chef Pierre Franey) and observing life in the Hamptons. Saltwater and freshwater fly fishing differ greatly, and Kaminsky proves especially adept at explaining the differences, as well as offering sound advice for freshwater anglers hoping to succeed in saltwater. This thoroughly readable account works both as a fishing book and as a travel memoir: Kaminsky’s sharp ear for dialogue is on display in his character sketches of the region’s anglers, some of whom seem to have walked out of the pages of To Have and to Have Not. Recommend this either to aficionados of fishing lit or to anyone with an interest in the Hamptons. John Rowen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Order Moon Pulled Up an Acre of Bass, The: A Flyrodder’s Odyssey at Montauk Point: Peter Kaminsky form Amazon.

posted by admin on Jan 14

Nervous Water: Variations on a Theme of Fly Fishing: Steve Raymond

Editorial Reviews

Review
Few angler-authors can match the skill and insight of Steve Raymond . . .”–The New York Times“Reading Steve Raymond’sNervous Wateris much like sitting around a campfire with a good scotch, a fine cigar, and listening to your best friend. The tales and rants are a look into the soul of a man who loves the marvels of nature.”–A. K. Best”Steve Raymond has been one of fly fishing’s finest writers longer than most of us have been fishing. Nervous Water is a splendid and vastly entertaining celebration of all the big and little things that make fly fishing such a compelling way of life.”
–Paul Schullery, author of Royal Coachman and American Fly Fishing: A History
“…contrasts the tranquil surface of the sport with the trends, debates and issues that roil the waters.”–Seattle Post-Intelligencer

”The entertaining stories are a snapshot of Raymond’s life and reveal engaging insights in the complex sport…”–Northwest Adventures
“…adds a bit more glitter to the bright thread of fly-fishing gold that runs through the fabric of American sporting literature. Raymond has for several decades made important contributions to the literature of fly fishing. In his collection of loosely connected essays we see him at his intriguing best. There’s something for all tastes-easygoing appreciation of the sport’s quirks, heartwarming reminiscence, and just simple tales wonderfully told. This is vintage Raymond, and for those who know his work, that means a literary wine to sample and savor.”–Fly Rod & Reel“Here you’ll find 34 essays ranging from outright comedy through some fascinating historical research, from a wry commentary on the burgeoning technologies of the fly-fishing industries and the cult of celebrity to some just plain, excellent fishing stories.” –Flyfishing and Tying Journal“Raymond’s prose is direct, his commentary forthright, frankly opinionated, frequently funny and not without cutting edges– Fly Rod & Reel“In a genre whose longing for the old days and calls for better management are too often scolding and furious, Raymond offers a simpler and more graceful message: Get out ther and pay attention to the wonder of the water.”–Seattle Times
“…a thoughtful and entertaining collection…”–Fly Rod & Reel









Praise for Steve Raymond’s Blue Upright:

With Blue Upright, Steve Raymond proves once again why he is the Raymond Carver of fly-fish lit. With elegant, unadorned precision, Steve offers the biographies of his favorite flies, which blossom into an autobiography of Steve Raymond and a history of fly-fishing for salmon, trout and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest, with side trips after bonefish and Atlantic salmon. It is complex wisdom simply presented, and belongs on any literate fly-fisher¹s bookshelf.–James R. Babb, Editor, Gray’s Sporting Journal

Raymond’s storytelling and writing skills enable him to seamlessly work these varied topics into cohesive chapters that both inform and amuse. And no matter where Raymond’s thoughts take him, he’s always able to convey how each of these tiny fishing flies has affected his life in a big way.”–Publishers Weekly

“Insightful, informative, and always interesting, this book could be a fitting capstone for the author’s literary career . . . “– Library Journal

Nervous water: sometimes it’s nothing more than a fleeting crease or wrinkle on the surface of a lake or stream, or a small patch of salt water that looks as if it’s shivering. But wise anglers know that such subtle surface movements are nearly always signs of fish stirring down below. The sport of fly fishing is like that. It has a reputation as a tranquil, contemplative sport, but something is nearly always going on down below: constant currents of new thought and theory, a relentless drive to develop new technologies, an ongoing muted chorus of debate. Esteemed fly fisher and author, Steve Raymond has contemplated many of these issues and presented them in articles and essays published in many magazines. Now, for the first time, many of these works have been collected in a single book - thirty-four variations on the theme of fly fishing. Together they form a selective, opinionated chronicle of the trends, developments, and changes in fly fishing from the 1960s to the present, along with a look back at some pioneers of the sport - and the fish that make it all possible. Most of these pieces have been updated, expanded, or otherwise revised or edited for publication in this book; several appear here for the first time. Some tackle important topics (such as the very definition of fly fishing itself), and others take a light look at the more trivial angling concerns (such as how, or even whether, to dress for fishing). A thoughtful, engaging contemplation of this complex sport, “NervousWater” belongs on the shelf of anyone who loves fly fishing.

Order Nervous Water: Variations on a Theme of Fly Fishing: Steve Raymond form Amazon.

posted by admin on Jan 13

A Wisp in the Wind: In Search of Bull Trout, Bamboo, and Beyond: Jerry Kustich

Editorial Reviews

Review
…from a remarkably fresh look at bamboo rods…Jerry Kustich gives us a book that sings and sticks.” — Nick Lyons, former publisher, and author of Full Creel and Spring Creek

…from a remarkably fresh look at bamboo rods…Jerry Kustich gives us a book that sings and sticks.” –Nick Lyons, former publisher, and author of Full Creel and Spring Creek

If split cane fly rods are the spiritual height of fly fishing, then the R.L. Winston bamboo rod shop approaches a mystical place. A Mecca for the few who find their way to Twin Bridges, Montana, most anglers only hear rumors of bearded rod makers bent over benches, illuminated, one would suppose, by a magical ray of Western sunlight. Until now, the heart of their discussions and the secrets of their techniques were only the stuff of conjecture and dreams. In A Wisp in the Wind, rod maker and dedicated fly fisher Jerry Kustich invites us through the rod shop door and bids us welcome. We meet the craftsmen we’ve only imagined, free thinking rod makers with humor, dedication, and lively conversation, immersed in the business of beveling cane strips and committed to the ideal that each of us, every angler, is going to have to fight for the future of every trout. As much a celebration of a life spent fishing, enriched by both the solitude and the company found there, as an observation of the lessons learned from halcyon kingfishers and elusive bull trout, Kustich takes us steelheading in British Columbia, spring creek fishing on Poindexter Slough, and late winter fishing on the Bitterroot. We travel along through the history of the Winston Company - of Lew Stoner, Robert Winther and their successors. We face the inevitability of the passing of eras, of people, and wild places with an activist’s hope. We ponder slowing the clock as precious moments seem to race by, faithful friends and family slipping into our dreams. And we consider, why bamboo? What is a “bamboo kind of day”? Any angler, with graphite or cane, who has found peace in the simplicity of a line well cast or a moment beyond the reach of time, will understand the quest and understand the greatest truth: the journey is the goal. A Wisp in the Wind is a journey well worth taking. - Kathy Scott, author of Moose in the Water/Bamboo on the Bench and Headwaters Fall as Snow

Order A Wisp in the Wind: In Search of Bull Trout, Bamboo, and Beyond: Jerry Kustich form Amazon.

posted by admin on Jan 9

Traver On Fishing (On): Robert Traver, Nick Lyons

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Nick Lyons presents Traver on Fishing, a treasury of essays and yarns by the author known as Robert Traver (pen name of former Michigan DA and judge John Voelker, who, following the success of Anatomy of a Murder, was able to retire from his legal work to fish full-time). Part personal experience and part fictional musings, Traver’s essays (many of them selected from his three previous fishing books: Trout Madness, Anatomy of a Fisherman and Trout Magic) are lyrical, insightful and as enticing as the trout he gamely pursues, most especially at his favorite spot, Frenchman’s Pond, with a tin cup of bourbon and a stogie.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Traver is required reading for every fly angler. Although he wrote almost entirely about his home waters in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, his words are still widely read with near reverence. Also famous for his court drama, Anatomy of a Murder (1958), Traver (the pseudonym for retired judge John D. Voelker) was a fine essayist and storyteller whose words remain fresh and funny. Nick Lyons provides a short introduction to this collection and then adds Traver stories from Trout Madness and Trout Magic (both available from Lyons Press) and the long out-of-print Anatomy of a Fisherman. Also included are Traver articles from several magazines and two profiles of the fisherman. Every library should have a copy of one of the author’s books, and this one provides an excellent introduction and selection of works. Highly recommended. Jeff Grossman, Milwaukee Area Technical Coll. Lib., Oak Creek
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Order Traver On Fishing (On): Robert Traver, Nick Lyons form Amazon.

posted by admin on Jan 8

Even Brook Trout Get the Blues: John Gierach

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Behind the sardonic, hip titles of Gierach’s fly-fishing travelogues ( Trout Bum ; Sex, Death and Fly-Fishing ) lurk grace, passion and wit–even angling epiphanies. Assembled here are 16 lively essays on his Rocky Mountain home streams, farm ponds, dogs and the peculiarity of fishing companions. Every Gierach story, while loaded with lore, is finally about trying to fit the odd but compelling perspectives that fishing bestows into accepted conventions of 20th-century sanity. In a funny, self-reflective mode that owes much to the writings of Richard Brautigan and Tom McGuane, Gierach highlights the fly fisher’s single-minded devotion to the sport, with its elements of art, to suggest that the eccentricity is a very real wisdom: “That is why we like to wander around the mountains with expensive flyrods: to get a taste of things the way they really are.” His reflections persuade as they entertain.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
There are three writers all self-respecting fly-fishing collections should purchase on principle; Nick Lyons ( Confessions of a Fly-Fishing Addict , LJ 5/15/89) and W.D. Wetherell ( Upland Stream: Notes on the Fishing Passion , LJ 3/15/91) are the other two. The 16 stories in this collection lack some of the snap and verve of Trout Bum ( LJ 6/15/86) and The View from Rat Lake ( LJ 2/1/88), but Gierach again shows off his capacity to startle the reader with profanity or humor, much as a fisherman working a deep corner of a pond ties into an 18 brook trout. Colorado-based and Western water-oriented, he is nonetheless a writer for any region and any season to those who prize the literature of this sport. Recommended.
- David Panciera, Westerly P.L., R.I.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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posted by admin on Jan 7

Bamboo Fly Rod Suite: Reflections on Fishing and the Geography of Grace: Frank Soos, Kesler Woodward

Editorial Reviews

Review
“A vivid account. . . . Lays open in the hand as neatly as an elegant English fly box and would handily fit in the outside pocket of a fishing vest.” –Chelsea

“Captivating essays - on living simply and living well.” - International Angler”

“This book would appeal to philosophical fly fishermen, but to a wider audience as well–particularly individuals who relish the idea of a reflective life.” –Baton Rouge Advocate

“Where does [this] book belong? Carried in a fishing creel for streamside reading. On a night stand or a coffee table. Anywhere within easy reach of anglers and nonanglers caught up in the currents of a fast culture and looking for lovely, reflective moments of grace.” –Eugene Register-Guard
–This text refers to the

Paperback
edition.

With sly wit and disarming candor, Soos recounts fly-fishing adventures that have become points of departure for wide-ranging ruminations on the larger questions that haunt him. 31 illustrations, 25 in color.

Order Bamboo Fly Rod Suite: Reflections on Fishing and the Geography of Grace: Frank Soos, Kesler Woodward form Amazon.

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