"How to" fly fishing books are abundant. Too abundant. It's the other genres that deal with our sport that interest me.

Short Story -- Hemingway "Big Two Hearted River" - Wonderful short piece in which Hemingway's protagonist the indomitable Nick tosses live hoppers at Brookies in northern Michigan.

Natural History - Brook Trout by Nick Karas. This is an incredible book which gives the most complete natural history of the fish imaginable. -- Did you know that Long Island was once a Brookie mecca? So was Manhattan. Did you know that Daniel Webster caught a 14 and 1/4 pound Brookie in the early 1800s? Do you know the story of the muddler minnow? All this and more in this book!

Fiction - A River Runs Through It is, objectively an excellent book. Certainly, it has become a fly-fishing cliche, but it is none the less iconic and powerful.

Poetry - Seamus Heaney, the Irish poet writes brilliantly about spin and fly fishing for trout and salmon. He's a completely brilliant poet and fisherman who knows the natural world intimately. Here's an example:



"It seemed to be all rise

and shine, the very opposite


of uphill going – it was pure

duration, and when it ended,

the pulse of the cast line

entering water


was smaller in your hand

than the remembered heartbeat

of a bird. Then, after all of that

runaway give, you were glad


when you reeled in and found

yourself strung, heel-tip

to rod-tip, into the river’s

steady purchase and thrum."


Wow!

Although your selections are excellent............... to REALLY ENJOY our sport and to have a "one night's read, 'cuz ya' can't put it down", try, (If you haven't already!!?), "Trout Madness" or about anything, from Robert Traver!

Sorry if this derails the thread, but ...

FlyBinder,

What is that in your avatar. The world's smallest steelhead?

A few years ago there was a book called "Traver's Pond" or something like that with beautifully vivid photos of northern Michigan. I'll have to see if I can track down the bibliographical info. -- My kids like to read my copy while imprisoned in the back of the minivan!

Hey, Albatros!
No, actually.........straining many muscles and almost putting a permanent tip-twist, in a favorite bamboo, I fought that mighty Sea Run 'Cutt to the bank one day on the Kilchis!!
I'm not too sure, what rules of angling apply on this particular fish, because it's the first time in all my years on the water that I've had a "perfect" C & R.................the fish wasn't hooked, as it appears in the avatar, it was entangled in the hackle fibers of a #16 Bi-visible.
My fishing partner, Henry Hoffman, insisted on the photo op. I'm sure out of sheer jealousy and envy................

Ginky........ are you possibly thinking of "Frenchman's Pond", by Volker? (Robert Traver)?

Here it is:

http://www.amazon.com/Voelkers-Pond-R ... oks&qid=1186357451&sr=8-2

It's actually a photo essay / close reading of Volker's work. -- It's extra cool because it includes beautiful close up shots of his collection of vintage bamboo rods!