Fly Fishing Forum banner

Good Reads

2K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  dewey 
#1 ·
I just wanted to say if you enjoy reading books about fly fishing. Then you definitely need to check out Zipping My Fly by:Rich Tosches. I picked up this book this morning and found myself not putting it down until I had read the entire thing!!! I would say it is as good as any of John Gierachs books "which is very good" Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
 
#2 ·
Speaking of great reads, for anybody that's a beginning (or even advanced) trout fisherman the book "To Catch a Trout" is one of the best I've ever read. It covers how to catch trout both on a fly and on light spinning tackle. Most of it is dedicated to how to find fish, their feeding habits, and just general knowledge about them, so it applies to both all types of fishing.

I don't know who the author is though. I'll have to look at the book when I get home...
 
#3 ·
An interesting book

I just finished, The Beaverkill : the history of a river and its people by Ed Van Put. It was interesting to read how the area has changed over the last 200 years. In addition to the Beaverkill there was information about some of the local ponds, buildings, and past code enforcment officers.
 
#4 ·
Here is an Idea

Just a thought but maybe it would be a good idea for there to be a seperate Forum for fly fishing book reviews. I know I really like to hear about different books from people who have read them. Just a thought...........
 
#5 ·
Two books of note

First "Into the Backing" Edited by Lamar Underwood. Published in 2001. Great collection of short stories written by some famous authors. I've read it three times during each of the past three winters.

Second "The Founding Fish" by John McPhee. All about our great shad fishery. Good history book. Even talks about General Washington crossing the Delaware. He was a sahd fisherman. Makes you want to give up stripers for shad....well almost.

I will look forward to "Zipping My Fly" and "To Catch a Trout."

Frank
 
#6 ·
Kory said:
Just a thought but maybe it would be a good idea for there to be a seperate Forum for fly fishing book reviews. I know I really like to hear about different books from people who have read them. Just a thought...........
Amazon has plenty of reviews. The trouble, and this is with reviews in general, is that they tend to be biased and usually they say everything is good. I've yet to read a review of a fishing book that said the book was bad, and I have read some poor fishing books. Or at least been disappointed.

At the moment one of my favorite books is "Trout Hunting" by Bob Wyatt. The stories are good and the techniques he talks about are interesting. Especially his theories on why trout take a fly. A lot of the waters he discusses are places you probably haven't read about like Ireland, Scotland and Tazmania. Oh, and his Deer Hair Emerger works like a charm. :biggrin:
 
#7 ·
Baldmountain,

I think you are misunderstanding what I am saying here. You see what is happening with this thread? It keeps growing with people giving other people there opinions on some good books "that have something to do with Fly Fishing" they have read. It is just a way for us to let other people know about some good books they would probably be interested in. I feel having it on here would also give an advantage because people like you or I would let people know if we read a book and were very disappointed with it. We have nothing to gain from it except for helping another fly fisherman so the reviews would probably not be biased.


Kory
 
#9 ·
Kory said:
We have nothing to gain from it except for helping another fly fisherman so the reviews would probably not be biased.
OK, I can go for that. But let's steal the name of this thread and call it Good Reads rather than Book Reviews. I'd rather see a place where people can talk about books they liked rather than a place for formal reviews...

We could also discuss the content of the books along with whether we liked them or not. And discuss older books that new people to the sport may not have heard about.

Hey Juro, if you are looking for a volunteer, I'm a bibliophile. Plus it will give me an excuse to read more books. :D
 
#10 ·
baldmountain said:
OK, I can go for that. But let's steal the name of this thread and call it Good Reads rather than Book Reviews. I'd rather see a place where people can talk about books they liked rather than a place for formal reviews.:D
That is what I was getting at all along:) . That is why I said you must of misunderstood what I was getting at. I must of worded it wrong. Oh well it should be a fun place to post some threads on books. I know for me anyway a good fishing book is a great way to spend a day when not working or fishing.
 
#11 ·
So, Kory, what would be your suggestions for a basic trout fisher's library? Then, again, what would be your suggestions for the "dream" trout fisher's libary?

I have focused pretty much on anadromous salmonids in building my library, but would be very interested in what the trout fishers would like to see on their shelves.

Cheers,

-- Eric
 
#12 ·
Eric said:
what would be your suggestions for a basic trout fisher's library?
Presentation by Gary Borger - If I could only have one book, this would be it.
Trout Hunting by Bob Wyatt - Excellent theory on why trout take a fly
Tactics on Trout by Ray Ovington - lean to read water
Trout - Ray Bergman - get an OLD copy to see how people fished for trout 75 years ago.
 
#13 ·
There are so many different choices here I do not know where to start. My library consists of about half Steelhead fishing books and half Trout fishing. I do more Steelheading than anything averaging about 150 days a year on the water here on the St. Joseph River but to be honest to me anyways Trout fishing literature is much better. No Trout fishermans library should be without some of John Gierachs books. Some of his best are Trout Bum, Still Life With Brook Trout, and Even Brook Trout Get The Blues. To be honest though every one of his books are great even his poetry books. A few of the books that I have read in the past couple of months that I really enjoyed are as follows.........

1) Jerusalem Creek by Ted Leeson

2) Being, Nothingness, and Fly Fishing by Michael Checchio "very good read"

3) Nervous Water by Steve Raymond

4) CrossCurrents by James Babb "One of the best books I have ever read!!!"

5) Zipping My Fly by Rich Tosches

6) The River Home by Jerry Dennis "One of my favorite authors."

All of these books are very good once I picked them up I had a hard time putting them down. There are several other Authors that you should check out like Rene Harrop, Lani Waller and Dave Hughes just to name 3 right off the top of my head. Some books that I found to be very informational were nymphing strategies by Larry Tullis and Understanding Trout Behavior by John Goodard and Brian Clarke. No Trout Fisherman library would be complete without some entomology books. My favorite is Aquatic Entomology by W. Patrick McCafferty with Mayflies by Ted Fauceglia coming in second. One book you would probably be interested in is brand new book called Cannibal Trout by Andrew Williams as it focuses on the Northwest's trout species. I hope this helps let me know if you have any more questions on any of the books I have mentioned..........
 
#14 ·
If you are talking about pleasure reads rather than "how-to" books, Tom McGuane's "The Longest Silence" is without a doubt my favorite. His literary brethren, Jim Harrison and Russell Chatham, also have some great essay collections on hunting and fishing. The bar-none greatest work in fishing literature for me though is Hemingway's "The Big Two-hearted river". So what if he's using live grasshoppers...
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top