We've ranked the best fishing books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.
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1
The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway
5.0
The Old Man and the Sea, an apparently simple fable, represents the mature Hemingway at his best. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature soon after its publication, and half a century later it is still one of his most read books.
I keep coming back to it. I love the straightforwardness, the tightness, and the poetry. I think it shows a common struggle that is repeated over and over in so many narratives both fictional and nonfictional. [source]
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway https://t.co/7dJE4Pfn56, a book from my great books list https://t.co/AxBNX3QpMb [source]
May Witwit
I taught this book to my students in Iraq during the economic sanctions. And I feel like it gave me some kind of strength to continue. [source]
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2
A River Runs Through it and Other Stories
Norman Maclean
4.7
Just as Norman Maclean writes at the end of "A River Runs through It" that he is "haunted by waters," so have readers been haunted by his novella. A retired English professor who began writing fiction at the age of 70, Maclean produced what is now recognized as one of the classic American stories of the twentieth century. Originally published in 1976, A River Runs through It and Other Stories now celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary, marked by this new edition that includes a foreword by Annie Proulx.
Maclean grew up in the western Rocky Mountains in the first decades of the twentieth century. As a young man he worked many summers in logging camps and for the United States Forest Service. The two novellas and short story in this collection are based on his own experiences—the experiences of a young man who found that life was only a step from art in its structures and beauty. The beauty he found was in reality, and so he leaves a careful record of what it was like to work in the woods when it was still a world of horse and hand and foot, without power saws, "cats," or four-wheel drives. Populated with drunks, loggers, card sharks, and whores, and set in the small towns and surrounding trout streams and mountains of western Montana, the stories concern themselves with the complexities of fly fishing, logging, fighting forest fires, playing cribbage, and being a husband, a son, and a father.
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Recommended by Tim Lott.
Tim Lott
This book is ostensibly about fly fishing, and the author’s relationship with his brother Paul. The story is about an older brother, who is never named, who talks about his brother, also called Paul – a genius fisherman who is very troubled. Paul gets arrested, gets drunk, goes with whores and ends up being murdered. The whole book is a tribute to his troubled younger brother whom he couldn’t help but felt immensely close to. He just adored his younger brother and wanted to protect him. [source]
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3
Trout Bum
John Gierach
4.6
Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers.
While most of us fly-fish to escape from daily life, for John Gierach and his friends fly-fishing IS a way of life. They are trout bums. But John Gierach is also an exceptional writer. The essays in Trout Bum are reflective, bitingly humorous and enormously wise in the ways of fishing and men. In vivid, unforgettable detail they recount the emotional, spiritual and tangible adventures and pleasures of stalking trout in and around the Rockies—day in, day out, from season to season, with friends and alone. John Gierach’s essays join the literary tradition of angling classics like The River Why, and A River Runs Through It.
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4
Sex, Death, and Fly-Fishing
John Gierach
4.4
Sex, Death, and Fly-Fishing
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5
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World
Mark Kurlansky
4.4
The Cod. Wars have been fought over it, revolutions have been triggered by it, national diets have been based on it, economies and livelihoods have depended on it. To the millions it has sustained, it has been a treasure more precious that gold. This book spans 1,000 years and four continents. From the Vikings to Clarence Birdseye, Mark Kurlansky introduces the explorers, merchants, writers, chefs and fisherman, whose lives have been interwoven with this prolific fish. He chronicles the cod wars of the 16th and 20th centuries. He blends in recipes and lore from the Middle Ages to the present. In a story that brings world history and human passions into captivating focus, he shows how the most profitable fish in history is today faced with extinction.
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Recommended by Denise Russell.
Denise Russell
Fascinating small book, immensely interesting and traces human acquaintance with this fish back for a thousand years. [source]
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The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea
Sebastian Junger
4.4
"Takes readers into the maelstrom and shows nature's splendid and dangerous havoc at its utmost".
October 1991. It was "the perfect storm"--a tempest that may happen only once in a century--a nor'easter created by so rare a combination of factors that it could not possibly have been worse. Creating waves ten stories high and winds of 120 miles an hour, the storm whipped the sea to inconceivable levels few people on Earth have ever witnessed. Few, except the six-man crew of the Andrea Gail, a commercial fishing boat tragically headed towards its hellish center.
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7
The Orvis Fly-Fishing Guide, Revised
Tom Rosenbauer
4.4
The Orvis Fly-Fishing Guide is the best-selling book for fly anglers! Whether you're a soon-to-be fly fisher looking for the right book to get you started or you're reasonably proficient at the sport and need a refresher course on tying knots for saltwater or the latest info on how to care for your waders or how to fish a dry fly in tricky currents, this invaluable, best-selling guide is for you. The latest, most up-to-date and trustworthy information on: *tackle selection and care--rods, reels, lines, leaders and knots *casting with instructive line drawings by Bob White • hundreds of flies in full color, including 50 new patterns *presentation, striking, playing and landing *tactics for stream, stillwater and salt *new techniques including Tenkara and Czech nymphing • how to fish all the major gamefish, fresh and saltwater, including salmon and steelhead *plus a new chapter on conservation, stream etiquette and giving back
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8
A Different Pond
Bao Phi, Thi Bui
4.4
As a young boy, Bao Phi awoke early, hours before his father's long workday began, to fish on the shores of a small pond in Minneapolis. Unlike many other anglers, Bao and his father fished for food, not recreation. A successful catch meant a fed family. Between hope-filled casts, Bao's father told him about a different pond in their homeland of Vietnam.
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9
The Longest Silence: A Life In Fishing
Thomas McGuane
4.4
Thomas McGuane's obsession with fish has taken him from the river in his backyard to the holiest waters of the fly-fisher's world. As he travels the fish take him to many and various subjects ripe for random speculation: rods and reels, the classification of anglers according to the flies they prefer, family and memory - right down to why fishermen lie.
The Longest Silence sets the heart pounding for a glimpse of moving water, and demonstrates what a life dedicated to sport reveals about life.
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The River Why
David James Duncan
4.4
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11
Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders: A John Gierach Fly-Fishing Treasury
John Gierach
4.4
Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers.
Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders collects forty of John Gierach’s finest essays on fishing from six of his books. Like all his writing, these essays are seasoned by a keen sense of observation and a deep knowledge and love of fishing lore, leavened by a wonderfully wry sense of humor. Gierach often begins with an observation that soon leads to something below the surface, which he finds and successfully lands. As Gierach says, writing is a lot like fishing.
This is the first anthology of John Gierach’s work, a collection that is sure to delight both die-hard fans and new readers alike. To enter Gierach’s world is to experience the daily wonder, challenge, and occasional absurdity of the fishing life—from such rituals as the preparation of camp coffee (for best results, serve in a tin cup) to the random, revelatory surprises, such as the flashing beauty of a grayling leaping out of the water. Whether he’s catching fish or musing on the ones that got away, Gierach is always entertaining and enlightening, writing with his own inimitable blend of grace and style, passion and wit.
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Moby-Dick
Herman Melville
4.4
Journey to the heart of the sea with this larger-than-life classic.
Regarded as a Great American Novel, "Moby Dick" is the ultimate tale of seeking vengeance.
Narrated by the crew member Ishmael, this epic whaling adventure follows the crew of the "Pequod," as its captain, Ahab, descends deeper and deeper into madness on his quest to find and kill the white whale that maimed him. Beyond the surface--of ship life, whaling, and the hunt for the elusive Moby Dick--are allegorical references to life--and even the universe--in this masterpiece by Herman Melville.
Complete and unabridged, this elegantly designed clothbound edition features an elastic closure and a new introduction by Christopher McBride.
According to the president’s Facebook page and a 2008 interview with the New York Times, this title is among his most influential forever favorites. [source]
Jobs told me that "Moby-Dick" was among his favorite books and he reread it a lot when he was a teen. [source]
Adam Haslett
Evil derives from the violent avoidance of the realisation of our own mortality and there could be few better examples of this in literature than Melville’s portrait of Ahab in Moby-Dick. [source]
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Another Lousy Day in Paradise
John Gierach
4.3
Acclaimed outdoor writer John Gierach invites fly fishermen, nature lovers, and everyone who enjoys great writing to partake in this collection of wonderfully witty, perceptive observations on fishing and life. Serialized in American Way, Colorado Outdoors, and the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Line drawings.
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14
A River Runs Through It
Norman Maclean
4.3
From its first magnificent sentence, "In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing," to the last, "I am haunted by waters," "A River Runs Through It" is an American classic.Based on Norman Maclean's childhood experiences, "A River Runs Through It" has established itself as one of the most moving stories of our time; it captivates readers with vivid descriptions of life along Montana's Big Blackfoot River and its near magical blend of fly fishing with the troubling affections of the heart.
This handsome edition is designed and illustrated by Barry Moser. There are thirteen two-color wood engravings.
Norman Maclean (1902-90), woodsman, scholar, teacher, and storyteller, grew up in the Western Rocky Mountains of Montana and worked for many years in logging camps and for the United States Forestry Service before beginning his academic career. He retired from the University of Chicago in 1973.
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15
Fool's Paradise
John Gierach, Glen Wolff
4.3
If John Gierach is living in a fool's paradise, then it's a paradise that his regular readers will recognize and new fans will delight in discovering. Laced with the inimitable blend of wit and wisdom that have made him fly-fishing's foremost scribe, "Fool's Paradise" chronicles the fishing life in all its glory (catching your biggest fish ever) and squalor (being stranded in a tent during a soaking rainstorm). In Gierach's world, both experiences are valuable, and both evoke humor and insight.Fishermen everywhere will understand Gierach's quest to discover and explore new waters (and then not to divulge the best locations to anyone), the unlikely appeal of winter fly-fishing ("the ice fishing shanty served the dual purpose of group therapy and the neighborhood tavern"), how impossible it is to predict the best fishing ("Everything that happens is entirely familiar, but I don't always see it coming"), or even the absurdity of the entire exercise ("day after day, you're casting a fly that doesn't look like anything to fish that aren't hungry and may not even be there"). Braving trips on small prop planes and down "Oh-My-God" roads alike, Gierach and his fishing buddies pursue bull trout in British Columbia, steelhead in the Rocky Mountains, and pike so fierce that a wise fisherman wears Kevlar gloves for the obligatory trophy photo.
But as with any activity that depends on unspoiled wilderness, change is constant. Gierach sees this happening both in the landscape ("You never get to point at a meadow full of browsing mule deer and say, 'You know, all this was once condos.'") and at lodges that now require guests to sign liability waivers ("[I] had a brief vision of herds of lawyers coursing over the tundra in search of litigation"). Just the same, he is always awed by the experience of nature, or as he puts it: "You're on a lovely, remote wilderness river in the Alaskan backcountry. There are people who would make this trip and not even bring a fishing rod."
Musing on the enduring appeal of fishing, Gierach theorizes, "We're so used to the fake and the packaged that encountering something real can amount to a borderline religious experience." Equal parts fishing lore, philosophy, and great fish stories, "Fool's Paradise" may not be a perfect substitute for actually being out on the water, but it's surely the next best thing.
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16
Standing in a River Waving a Stick
John Gierach
4.3
Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers.
With his inimitable combination of wit and wisdom, John Gierach once again celebrates the fly-fishing life in Standing in a River Waving a Stick and notes its benefits as a sport, philosophical pursuit, even therapy: “The solution to any problem—work, love, money, whatever—is to go fishing, and the worse the problem, the longer the trip should be.” After all, fly-fishing does teach important life lessons, says Gierach—about solitude, patience, perspective, humor, and the sublime coffee break.
Recounting both memorable fishing spots and memorable fish, Gierach discusses what makes a good fly pattern, the ethics of writing about undiscovered trout waters, the dread of getting skunked, and the camaraderie of fellow fishermen who can end almost any conversation with “Well, it’s sort of like fishing, isn’t it?” Reflecting on a lifetime of lessons learned at the end of a fly rod, Gierach concludes, “The one inscription you don’t want carved on your tombstone is ‘The Poor Son of a Bitch Didn’t Fish Enough.’” Fortunately for Gierach fans, this is not likely to happen.
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17
Even Brook Trout Get The Blues
John Gierach
4.3
Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers.
“Once an angler has become serious about the sport (and ‘serious’ is the word that’s used), he’ll never again have enough tackle or enough time to use it. And his nonangling friends and family may never again entirely recognize him, either.” In other words, he (or she) will have entered Gierach territory. And fishermen who choose to brave the crowds at the big hold, commune with the buddies at the “family pool,” or even wade into questionable waters in the dark of night are sure to recognize themselves in Even Brook Trout Get the Blues.
Whether debating bamboo versus graphite rods, describing the pleasure of fishing in pocket waters or during a spring snow in the mountains, or recounting a trip in pursuit of the “fascinatingly ugly” longnose gar, Gierach understands that fly-fishing is more than a sport. It’s a way of life in which patience is (mostly) rewarded, the rhythms of the natural world are appreciated, and the search for the perfect rod or ideal stream is never ending. It is not a life without risks, for as Gierach warns: “This perspective on things can change you irreparably. If it comes to you early enough in life, it can save you from ever becoming what they call ‘normal.’” Even Brook Trout Get the Blues will convince you that “normal” is greatly overrated.
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18
No Shortage of Good Days
John Gierach
4.3
IN his new book about the delightful torture known as fly fishing, John Gierach again demonstrates the wit, eloquence, and insight that have become his trademarks. Consider this observation about fishing: "From my own experience I can say that a bad back makes you hike slower, stove-up knees keep you from wading confidently, tendinitis of the elbow buggers your casting, and a dose of giardia can send you dashing into the bushes fifteen times in an afternoon, but although none of this is fun, it's discernibly better than not fishing."
Or this explanation for every fisherman's fascination with small streams: "The idea is to fish obscure headwater creeks in hopes of eventually sniffing out an underappreciated little trout creek down an un-marked dirt road. Why is another question. I suppose it's partly for the fishing itself and partly to satisfy your curiosity, but mostly to sustain the belief that such things are still out there to find for those willing to look."
And perhaps the ultimate explanation for the fishing obsession: "I briefly wondered how much trouble a guy should go to in order to catch a few little trout, but then any fish becomes worth catching to the extent that you can't catch it, so the answer was obvious: Once you decide to try, you go to as much trouble as it takes."
In "No Shortage of Good Days "Gierach takes usfrom the Smokies in Tennessee to his home waters in Colorado, from the Canadian Maritimes to Mexico--saltwater or fresh, it's all fishing and all irresistible. As always he writes perceptively about a wide range of subjects: the charm of familiar waters, the etiquette 27.99 of working with new fishing guides, night fishing when the trout and the mosquitoes are both biting, fishing while there is still slush on the river, fishing snobbery, and the delights of fresh fish cooked and eaten within sight of where it was caught. "No Shortage of Good Days "may be the next best thing to a day of fishing.
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19
Still Life With Brook Trout
John Gierach
4.3
Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers.
In Still Life with Brook Trout, John Gierach demonstrates once again that fishing, when done right, is as much a philosophical pursuit as a sport.
Gierach travels to Wyoming and Maine and points in between, searching out new fly-fishing adventures and savoring familiar waters with old friends. Along the way he meditates on the importance of good guides ("Really, the only thing a psychiatrist can do that a good guide can't is write prescriptions"), the challenge of salmon fishing ("Salmon prowl. If they're not here now, they could be here in half an hour. Or tomorrow. Or next month"), and the zen of fishing alone ("I also enjoy where my mind goes when I'm fishing alone, which is usually nowhere in particular and by a predictable route"). On a more serious note, he ponders the damaging effects of disasters both natural and man-made: drought, wildfires, and the politics of dam-building, among others.
Reflecting on a trip to a small creek near his home, Gierach writes, "In my brightest moments, I think slowing down...has opened huge new vistas on my old home water. It's like a friendship that not only lasts, but gets better against the odds." Similarly, Still Life with Brook Trout proves that Gierach, like fly-fishing itself, becomes deeper and richer with time.
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20
View From Rat Lake
John Gierach
4.3
Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers.
“In the world of fishing there are magic phrases that are guaranteed to summon the demon. Among them are: ‘remote trout lake,’ ‘fish up to 13 pounds,’ ‘the place the guides fish on their days off,’” writes John Gierach in this wonderful collection of thirteen essays inspired by a fishing trip to Rat Lake, a remote body of water in Montana. Once again John Gierach does what he does best—explain the peculiarities of the fishing life in a way that will amuse novices and seasoned fly fishers alike. The View from Rat Lake deftly examines man in nature and nature in man, the pleasures of fishing the high country, and the high and low comedy that occasionally overcomes even the best-planned fishing trip.
Some typically sage observations from The View from Rat Lake:
“One of the things we truly fish for [is] an occasion for self-congratulation.”
“In every catch-and-release fisherman’s past there is an old black frying pan.”
“We . . . believe that a 12-inch trout caught on a dry fly is four inches longer than a 12-inch trout caught on a nymph or streamer.”
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21
All Fishermen Are Liars
John Gierach
4.3
From the Pacific Northwest to the Upper Midwest to the Canadian Maritimes, “America’s best fishing writer” (Houston Chronicle) shows us why life’s most valuable lessons—and some of its best experiences—are found while fly-fishing.
“I have to go fishing; it’s my job.” John Gierach can say that and mean it. But fishing is only part of his job. The other part is writing about his fishing adventures. And that’s the part we readers get to enjoy.
In All Fishermen Are Liars, Gierach travels across North America from the Pacific Northwest to the Canadian Maritimes to seek out quintessential fishing experiences. Whether he’s fishing a busy stream or a secluded lake amid snow-capped mountains, Gierach insists that fishing is always the answer—even when it’s not clear what the question is. All Fishermen Are Liars covers fishing topics large and small: the art of fly-tying and the quest for the perfect steelhead fly; fishing in the Presidential Pools previously fished by the first President George Bush; and the importance of traveling with like-minded companions when caught in a soaking downpour. (“At this point someone is required to say, ‘You know, there are people who wouldn’t think this is fun.’”)
Gierach may occasionally lose a fish, but he never loses his passion for fishing or his sense of humor. All Fishermen Are Liars proves yet again that life’s most valuable lessons—and some of its best experiences— can be found while fly-fishing.
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22
Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food
Paul Greenberg
4.3
In Four Fish, award-winning writer and lifelong fisherman Paul Greenberg takes us on a culinary journey, exploring the history of the fish that dominate our menus — salmon, sea bass, cod, and tuna — and investigating where each stands at this critical moment in time.
He visits Norwegian megafarms that use genetic techniques once pioneered on sheep to grow millions of pounds of salmon a year. He travels to the ancestral river of the Yupik Eskimos to see the only Fair Trade–certified fishing company in the world. He makes clear how PCBs and mercury find their way into seafood; discovers how Mediterranean sea bass went global; challenges the author of Cod to taste the difference between a farmed and a wild cod; and almost sinks to the bottom of the South Pacific while searching for an alternative to endangered bluefin tuna.
Fish, Greenberg reveals, are the last truly wild food — for now. By examining the forces that get fish to our dinner tables, he shows how we can start to heal the oceans and fight for a world where healthy and sustainable seafood is the rule rather than the exception.
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Recommended by Barry Estabrook and Helen Scales.
Barry Estabrook
This book is totally unbiased and very serious at looking for solutions to the global fisheries problem. He picks four iconic fish to use as examples to serve for the whole spectrum. So there is tuna, salmon, cod and sea bass. He doesn’t condemn fish farming outright but he explores ways to do it so that we continue to fish in what is the last wild place where we get our food. [source]
Helen Scales
Greenberg brings Roberts’s story bang up to date. He answers questions about what we eat today and how that is affecting the ocean. He picks four fish, which in the western world at least are the main species we eat. Those are tuna, salmon, cod and sea bass. It is a fascinating story about how we got hooked on those four species, which he tells from his perspective as an avid angler. [source]
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23
Fly Fishing Small Streams
John Gierach
4.3
Small-stream fishing wisdom with the same insight and pungent humor that has become Gierach's trademark. Advice on tackle selecting, reading water, and scouting.
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24
At the Grave of the Unknown Fisherman
John Gierach
4.3
Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers.
Proving that fishing is not just a part-time pursuit, At the Grave of the Unknown Fisherman takes us through a year with America’s favorite fishing scribe, John Gierach, who dedicates himself to his passion despite his belief that “In the long run, fishing usually amounts to a lifetime of pratfalls punctuated by rare moments of perfection.”
Beginning with an early spring expedition to barely thawed Wyoming waters and ending with a New Year’s Eve trip to the Frying Pan River in Colorado, Gierach’s travels find him fishing for trout, carp, and grayling; considering the pros and cons of learning fishing from videos (“video fishing seems a little like movie sex: fun to watch, but a long way from the real thing”); pondering the ethics of sharing secret spots; and debunking the myth of the unflappable outdoorsman (“masters of stillness on the outside, festering s***holes of uncertainty just under the surface”).
With an appreciation of the highs, the lows, and all points between, Gierach writes about the fishing life with wisdom, grace, and the well-timed wisecrack. As he says, “The season never does officially end here, but it ends effectively, which means you can fish if you want to and if you can stand it, but you don’t have to.” As any Gierach fan knows, want to and have to are never very far apart.
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25
A Fly Rod of Your Own
John Gierach
4.3
“After five decades, twenty books, and countless columns, [John Gierach] is still a master,” (Forbes) and his newest book only confirms this assessment, along with his recent induction into the Flyfishing Hall of Fame. In A Fly Rod of Your Own, Gierach brings his ever-sharp sense of humor and keen eye for observation to the fishing life and, for that matter, life in general.
Known for his witty, trenchant observations about fly-fishing, Gierach’s “deceptively laconic prose masks an accomplished storyteller…his alert and slightly off-kilter observations place him in the general neighborhood of Mark Twain and James Thurber” (Publishers Weekly). A Fly Rod of Your Own transports readers to streams and rivers from Maine to Montana, and as always, Gierach’s fishing trips become the inspiration for his pointed observations on everything from the psychology of fishing (“Fishing is still an oddly passive-aggressive business that depends on the prey being the aggressor”); why even the most veteran fisherman will muff his cast whenever he’s being filmed or photographed; the inevitable accumulation of more gear than one could ever need (“Nature abhors an empty pocket. So does the tackle industry”); or the qualities shared by the best guides (“the generosity of a teacher, the craftiness of a psychiatrist, and the enthusiasm of a cheerleader with a kind of Vulcan detachment”).
As Gierach likes to say, “fly-fishing is a continuous process that you learn to love for its own sake. Those who fish already get it, and those who don’t couldn’t care less, so don’t waste your breath on someone who doesn’t fish.” A Fly Rod of Your Own is an ode to those who fish that “brings a skeptical, wry voice to the peril and promise of twenty-first-century fishing” (Booklist).
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26
Gone Fishing: A novel in verse
Tamera Will Wissinger and Matthew Cordell
4.3
“Just the thing for readers with a burgeoning interest in poetry—or angling.”—Publishers Weekly
Nine-year-old Sam loves fishing with his dad. So when his pesky little sister, Lucy, horns in on their fishing trip, he’s none too pleased. All ends well in this winsome book of poems—each labeled with its proper poetic form. Together the poems build a dawn-to-dusk story of a father-son bond, of sibling harmony lost and found—and, most of all, of delicious anticipation. Charming line drawings animate the poetry with humor and drama, and the extensive Poet’s Tackle Box at the end makes this the perfect primer to hook aspiring poets of all ages.
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27
The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey
Linda Greenlaw
4.2
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER--NOW AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK! Known to millions of readers of The Perfect Storm as the captain of the Hannah Boden, sister ship to the Andrea Gail, Linda Greenlaw is also known as one of the best sea captains on the East Coast. Here she offers an adventure-soaked tale of her own, complete with danger, humor, and characters so colorful they seem to have been ripped from the pages of Moby Dick. "A beautiful book . . . a story of triumph, of a woman not only making it but succeeding at the highest level in one of the most male-dominated and most dangerous professions." -- Douglas Whynott, The New York Times Book Review "An authentic, insightful account of the intensity of captaining a crew of strong men in an ocean which does what it wants." -- Daniel Hays, co-author of My Old Man and the Sea "A crystal-clear account of fishing the Grand Banks in a modern swordfish boat. Greenlaw is an excellent captainand an excellent writer." -- John Casey, author of Spartina
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28
The Total Fishing Manual (Paperback Edition): 317 Essential Fishing Skills
Joe Cermele
4.2
When it comes to fishing, nobody knows more than the writers and editors at Field & Stream magazine--unless it's the local guides, prizewinners, and other experts they interviewed for this book. The Total Fishing Manual is chock full of 317 field-tested tools, techniques and tactics, collected and written by the Field & Stream editors and accompanied by amazing photos and handy illustrations.
GEAR UP How to pick the best lures, baits, flies, and tackle for every situation and every style of water you plan to fish. Learn how to customize your rod and reel, and to get the most out of your equipment.
HIT THE WATER From small streams to major rivers, ponds to big lakes, and bays to the open ocean, hundreds of field-tested strategies will help you catch more fish with or without a boat.
FIND THE FISH Professional fishing guides from across the country tell you how and where to find lunker bass, trophy walleyes, huge trout, and more - right in your home waters.
SET THE HOOK Whether you're bobber fishing for bluegills with the kids or heading out after the muskie of a lifetime, the techniques and tactics in this book will make your trip a success.
Whether you're a beginner, a weekend angler or a serious sport fisher this book has the information you need to hook’em.
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29
Habit of Rivers: Reflections on Trout Streams and Fly Fishing
Ted Leeson, John Gierach
4.2
Originally published in 1994, this book was a fly-fishing phenomenon in the way Howell Raines's Fly Fishing Through the Mid-Life Crisis was. Taking his fishing hobby to near metaphysical levels, Ted Leeson tells about his passions: rivers, trout, and fly fishing. With wry humor and rare insight, he explores questions that engage most fishermen: What is it about rivers that draws us so irresistibly, and why does fly fishing seem such an aptly suited response? Above all, The Habit of Rivers is about ways of seeing the wonderfully textured world that emanates from a river.
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30
In a Village by the Sea
Muon Van, April Chu
4.2
Written in a spare, lyrical style using fresh, evocative imagery, In a Village by the Sea tells the story of longing for the comforts of home. A perfect book for teaching about diverse cultures and lifestyles through rich pictures and words, moving from the wide world to the snugness of home and back out again.
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31
The Compleat Angler, or the Contemplative Man's Recreation
Izaak Walton, Charles Cotton
4.2
Walton's popular classic treatise on fishing goes far beyond techniques, as it embraces a life that values serenity and appreciation for creation. Some of the natural history lore is antiquated, but keen intelligence and good humor express themselves in a readable and enjoyable manner.
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Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Paul Torday
4.2
What does it take to make us believe in the impossible? For Dr. Alfred Jones, life is a quiet mixture of civil service at the National Centre for Fisheries Excellence and marriage to Mary—an ambitious, no-nonsense financier. But a strange turn of fate from an unexpected direction forces Jones to upend his existence and spend all of his time in pursuit of another man’s ludicrous dream. Can there be salmon in the Yemen? Science says no. But if resources are limitless and the visionary is inspired, maybe salmon fishing in the Yemen isn’t impossible. Then again, maybe nothing is.
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33
The Dog Stars
Peter Heller
4.2
Hig somehow survived the flu pandemic that killed everyone he knows. Now his wife is gone, his friends are dead, and he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, Jasper, and a mercurial, gun-toting misanthrope named Bangley.
But when a random transmission beams through the radio of his 1956 Cessna, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life exists outside their tightly controlled perimeter. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return and follows its static-broken trail, only to find something that is both better and worse than anything he could ever hope for.
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Recommended by Caroline Paul.
Caroline Paul
I really love this book. I picked it up because I love the stars, basically. [source]
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34
Trout Magic
Robert Traver
4.2
Trout Magic is a warm, joyous, and maverick look at trout fishing and its attendant tall tales, strange happenings, and all-around fishing lore. Traver recounts the story of a mysterious "dancing fly, " speaks pointedly about "kiss-and-tell" fishermen, debunks fly fishermen as the "world's greatest snobs, " lets us in on the fishing story Life missed, and takes us along on his strangest fishing trip. We meet the unforgettable Danny McGinnis, guide, and other choice characters and events from his anything-but-ordinary fishing trips. Traver even has some new angles on women anglers and does a free piece of tongue-in-cheek literary sleuthing into Ernest Hemingway's story "Big Two-Hearted River."
There's enough trout magic here to rub off on every reader -- man, woman, or child -- as Robert Traver weaves his inimitable storytelling spell. Trout Magic is a marvelous catch of wit, wisdom, and anecdote sure to delight everyone who enjoys a master storyteller who just happens to write here about his wonderful world of trout fishing.
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35
The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century
Kirk Wallace Johnson
4.2
A rollicking true-crime adventure and a thought-provoking exploration of the human drive to possess natural beauty for readers of The Stranger in the Woods, The Lost City of Z, and The Orchid Thief.
On a cool June evening in 2009, after performing a concert at London's Royal Academy of Music, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist boarded a train for a suburban outpost of the British Museum of Natural History, armed with a pair of latex gloves, a miniature LED flashlight, and a diamond-blade glass cutter. Home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world, the Tring museum was full of rare bird specimens whose coppery orange, emerald, and iridescent blue feathers were worth staggering amounts of money to the men who shared Edwin's obsession: the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying, in which exotic feathers are fastened in intricate patterns around fishing hooks. Over the next few hours, the champion fly-tier grabbed hundreds of bird skins--some collected 150 years earlier by a contemporary of Darwin's, Alfred Russel Wallace, who'd risked everything to gather them--and escaped into the darkness.
Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was waist high in a river in northern New Mexico, fly-fishing for trout, when his guide told him about the heist. He was soon consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds from a museum? Had Edwin paid the price for his crime? What became of the missing skins? In his search for answers, Johnson was catapulted into a years-long, worldwide investigation, infiltrating the underground network of fly-tiers and feather smugglers, and tracking down the thief and his suspected accomplices in a single-minded search for the missing birds. The gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime, and one man's relentless pursuit of justice, The Feather Thief is also a fascinating exploration of obsession, and man's destructive instinct to harvest the beauty of nature.
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Recommended by Joe Kunkle.
Joe Kunkle
I set aside an hour after the close on Wednesday's to read a book (only hour I get per week usually) outside by the firepit, and I really look forward to it...man I must be getting old :) "Feather Thief" current read, 180 pages in, it's incredibly awesome [source]
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36
The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game: Volume 1: Big Game
Steven Rinella and John Hafner
4.2
A comprehensive big-game hunting guide for hunters ranging from first-time novices to seasoned experts, with more than 400 full-color photographs, including work by renowned outdoor photographer John Hafner Steven Rinella was raised in a hunting family and has been pursuing wild game his entire life. In this first-ever complete guide to hunting—from hunting an animal to butchering and cooking it—the host of the popular hunting show MeatEater shares his own expertise with us, and imparts strategies and tactics from many of the most experienced hunters in the United States as well.
This invaluable book includes • recommendations on what equipment you will need—and what you can do without—from clothing to cutlery to camping gear to weapons • basic and advanced hunting strategies, including spot-and-stalk hunting, ambush hunting, still hunting, drive hunting, and backpack hunting • how to effectively use decoys and calling for big game • how to find hunting locations, on both public and private land, and how to locate areas that other hunters aren’t using • how and when to scout hunting locations for maximum effectiveness • basic information on procuring hunting tags, including limited-entry “draw” tags • a species-by-species description of fourteen big-game animals, from their mating rituals and preferred habitats to the best hunting techniques—both firearm and archery—for each species • how to plan and pack for backcountry hunts • instructions on how to break down any big-game animal and transport it from your hunting site • how to butcher your own big-game animals and select the proper cuts for sausages, roasts, and steaks, and how to utilize underappreciated cuts such as ribs and shanks • cooking techniques and recipes, for both outdoor and indoor preparation of wild game
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37
Trout Madness
Robert Traver
4.2
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38
The Orvis Guide to Prospecting for Trout, New and Revised: How to Catch Fish When There's No Hatch to Match
Tom Rosenbauer
4.2
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39
Fishing for Dummies
Peter Kaminsky and Greg Schwipps
4.2
Make fishing easier and more rewarding every time you pick up your rod and reel No one can promise that you will catch fish all the time. For as long as we've been catching fish, fish have been outsmarting us. But there are tips and pointers that even the most seasoned anglers can pick up!
Fishing For Dummies helps you prepare for what awaits beyond the shore. From trout to carp and bass to bonefish, you'll get coverage of the latest and greatest techniques to fish like a pro.
The latest in fishing line and equipment technology, including new electronics and gadgets An expanded section on casting methods for spinning tackle and bait casting 8 pages of full-color fish illustrations If you're one of the millions of people who enjoy fishing, whether for fun or sport, this hands-on, friendly guide gives you everything you need to keep "The Big One" from getting away!
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40
The Little Red Book of Fly Fishing
Kirk Deeter
4.2
Kirk Deeter of Field & Stream and Charlie Meyers of the Denver Post, crack open their notebooks and share expert advice on flies, casting, reading the water, and much more.
The mission of The Little Red Book of Fly Fishing is to demystify and un-complicate the tricks and tips that make a great trout fisher. There are no complicated physics lessons here. Rather, conceived in the “take dead aim” spirit of Harvey Penick’s classic instructional on golf, The Little Red Book of Fly Fishing offers a simple, digestible primer on the basic elements of fly fishing: the cast, presentation, reading water, and selecting flies. The Table of Contents includes:
Part One: The Cast: 45 Tips to Help You Cast Straighter, Longer, and More Accurately Part Two: Presentation: 60 Tips to Help you Place and Drift Your Flies So that Trout Will Want to Eat Them Part Three: Reading Water: 37 Tips to Help You Find Trout in a Rive and Effectively Cast to them Part Four: 43 Tips to Help You Select, Rig, and Fish the Right Fly at the Right Time in the Right Way Part Five: Miscellaneous: 65 Tips on Fighting Fish, Wading, Choosing Ger, and Everything Else That Matters
In the end, this collection of 240 tips is one of the most insightful, plainly spoken, and entertaining works on this sport—one that will serve both novices and experts alike in helping them reflect and hone-in their approaches to fly fishing.
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41
History of Fly-Fishing in Fifty Flies
Ian Whitelaw
4.2
New York Times Bestseller
The History of Fly-Fishing in Fifty Flies recounts the history of a sport that dates back 2,000 years, focusing on milestone flies from the first feathered hook to contemporary patterns using cutting-edge materials. Among the countless fly patterns created over the centuries, these 50 have been carefully chosen to represent the development not only of the flies themselves, but also of fly-fishing techniques—and of rods, lines, and reels. These iconic flies also chart the spread of this addictive sport from its modern origins on the chalk streams of southern England and the rivers of Scotland to the U.S., Europe, South America, Australia, and now to every country in the world. Filled with profiles of the key characters involved, tying tips, photographs and illustrations of the flies, and detailed explanations of the techniques used to fish them, The History of Fly-Fishing in Fifty Flies is a fascinating companion to the evolution of this fascinating sport.
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42
The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game: Volume 2: Small Game and Fowl
Steven Rinella and John Hafner
4.2
A comprehensive small game hunting guide for hunters ranging from first-time novices to seasoned experts, with photography by renowned outdoor photographer John Hafner Steven Rinella was raised in a hunting family and has been pursuing wild game his entire life. In this first-ever complete guide to hunting—from hunting wild game to butchering and cooking it—the host of the popular hunting show MeatEater shares his own expertise with us, and imparts strategies and tactics from many of the most experienced hunters in the United States as well.
This invaluable book includes • recommendations on what equipment you will need—and what you can do without—from footwear to cutlery to camping gear to weapons • basic and advanced hunting strategies for all North American small game, including drive techniques, solo and group hunting, ambush hunting, the use of hunting dogs, and techniques for decoying and calling • how to find hunting locations, on both public and private land; how to locate areas that other hunters aren’t using; and how to make competition work in your favor • detailed sections on furred small game, upland birds, and waterfowl, covering the biology and best hunting methods for a total of thirty small game species • comprehensive information about hunting wild turkeys in both the spring and fall seasons • how to master the arts of wingshooting and rifle marksmanship, and detailed information about shot placement, ammunition selection, and field maintenance of firearms and archery equipment • instructions on how to field dress and butcher your own small game animals for a variety of preparations • techniques and recipes for both indoor and outdoor wild game cooking
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43
The Earth Is Enough: Growing Up in a World of Flyfishing, Trout & Old Men
Harry Middleton, Russell Chatham
4.1
In this touching memoir of his boyhood on a farm in the Ozark foothills, Harry Middleton joins the front rank of nature writers alongside Edward Hoagland and Annie Dillard. It is the year1965, a year rife with change in the world---and in the life of a boy whose tragic loss of innocence leads him to the healing landscape of the Ozarks. Haunted by indescribable longing, twelve-year-old Harry is turned over to two enigmatic guardians, men as old as the hills they farm and as elusive and beautiful as the trout they fish for---with religious devotion. Seeking strength and purpose from life, Harry learns from his uncle, grandfather, and their crazy Sioux neighbor, Elias Wonder, that the pulse of life beats from within the deep constancy of the earth, and from one’s devotion to it. Amidst the rhythm of an ancient cadence, Harry discovers his home: a farm, a mountain stream, and the eye of a trout rising.
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44
Reading Trout Water
Dave Hughes
4.1
- Second edition, completely updated in full color - Covers every water type--riffles, runs, pools, flats, pocket water, bank water - Learn how to find trout by studying currents, temperatures, oxygen levels, and food sources - 140 color photos pinpoint trout locations in specific water types
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45
An Entirely Synthetic Fish: How Rainbow Trout Beguiled America and Overran the World
Anders Halverson
4.1
Anders Halverson provides an exhaustively researched and grippingly rendered account of the rainbow trout and why it has become the most commonly stocked and controversial freshwater fish in the United States. Discovered in the remote waters of northern California, rainbow trout have been artificially propagated and distributed for more than 130 years by government officials eager to present Americans with an opportunity to get back to nature by going fishing. Proudly dubbed “an entirely synthetic fish” by fisheries managers, the rainbow trout has been introduced into every state and province in the United States and Canada and to every continent except Antarctica, often with devastating effects on the native fauna. Halverson examines the paradoxes and reveals a range of characters, from nineteenth-century boosters who believed rainbows could be the saviors of democracy to twenty-first-century biologists who now seek to eradicate them from waters around the globe. Ultimately, the story of the rainbow trout is the story of our relationship with the natural world—how it has changed and how it startlingly has not.
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46
River Monsters: True Stories of the Ones that Didn't Get Away
Jeremy Wade
4.1
I'm Jeremy Wade, biologist and fishing detective. For twenty-five years, I've explored our planet's remotest rivers and lakes, hunting for monster-sized fish. It's become something of an obsession for me. . . . Called "the greatest angling explorer of his generation" (Independent on Sunday), Jeremy Wade, host of Animal Planet's wildly popular TV series River Monsters, takes viewers where no wildlife program has gone before, revealing the creatures that lurk in the murky depths of our planet's inland waterways. Now, Wade goes truly beneath the surface, disclosing full details of how he tracks down and catches each species while also recounting the off-camera highlights of his extraordinary life. From his arrest as a suspected spy in Southeast Asia to a plane crash in the Amazon, every page of River Monsters is packed with adventure. Each chapter unfolds an enthralling detective story, where fishermen's tales of underwater man-eaters and aquatic killers are subjected to scientific scrutiny. Follow Wade step-by-step as, armed with just a fishing line, he closes in on his prey and separates fact from fiction. From the heart of the Congo, where he wrestles with supernatural goliath tigerfish, to the depths of the Amazon, where the most feared creature is one that could fit in your palm, the results are fish of staggering proportions and terrifying demeanor. Wade also reveals monsters from upcoming episodes, including deadly electric eels, a giant described as a cross between a shark and a chainsaw, and a snake-like beast that truly is the stuff of legend. In the tradition of the most gripping adventure writing, River Monsters shows that there's more to this world than what's visible on the surface. As Wade says, with a fishing line anything is possible--sometimes it can even reveal the future, or at least one possible version of it. In similar fashion, Wade's writings are much more than exhilarating stories: they reveal a vision of the world more awe-inspiring than any individual myth made flesh. Ultimately, River Monsters explores the real mysteries that still exist, capturing the story of one man's obsession--and his relentless pursuit of the truth.
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47
Dances With Trout
John Gierach
4.1
Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers.
With the wry humor and wit that have become his trademark, John Gierach writes about his travels in search of good fishing and even better fish stories. In this new collection of essays on fishing —and hunting—Gierach discusses fishing for trout in Alaska, for salmon in Scotland and for almost anything in Texas. He offers his perceptive observations on the subject of ice-fishing, getting lost, fishing at night, tournaments and the fine art of tying flies. Gierach also shares his hunting technique, which involves reading a good book and looking up occasionally to see if any deer have wandered by.
Always entertaining, often irreverent and illuminating, Gierach invites readers into his enviable way of life, and effortlessly sweeps them along. As he writes in Dances with Trout, “Fly-fishing is solitary, contemplative, misanthropic, scientific in some hands, poetic in others, and laced with conflicting aesthetic considerations. It’s not even clear if catching fish is actually the point.”
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48
Caddisflies
Gary LaFontaine
4.1
Introduces tested patterns and details strategies on how best to fish larvae, pupae, and adult flies.
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49
Hemingway on Fishing
Ernest Hemingway and Nick Lyons
4.1
From childhood on, Ernest Hemingway was a passionate fisherman. He fished the lakes and creeks near the family's summer home at Walloon Lake, Michigan, and his first stories and reportages were often about his favorite sport. Here, collected for the first time in one volume, are all of his great writings about the many kinds of fishing he did—from trout in the rivers of northern Michigan to marlin in the Gulf Stream.
In A Moveable Feast, Hemingway speaks of sitting in a café in Paris and writing about what he knew best—and when it came time to stop, he “did not want to leave the river.” The story was the unforgettable classic, “Big Two-Hearted River,” and from its first words we do not want to leave the river either. He also wrote articles for the Toronto Star on fishing in Canada and Europe and, later, articles for Esquire about his growing passion for big-game fishing. His last books, The Old Man and the Sea and Islands in the Stream, celebrate his vast knowledge of the ocean and his affection for its great denizens.
Hemingway on Fishing is an encompassing, diverse, and fascinating collection. From the early Nick Adams stories and the memorable chapters on fishing the Irati River in The Sun Also Rises to such late novels as Islands in the Stream, this collection traces the evolution of a great writer's passion; the range of his interests; the sure use he made of fishing, transforming it into the stuff of great literature.
Anglers and lovers of great writing alike will welcome this important collection.
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50
Wet Flies Tying and Fishing Soft-Hackles, Winged and Wingless Wets, and Fuzzy Nymphs
Dave Hughes
4.1
A detailed survey of the history and use of wet flies, with step-by-step tying sequences. A standard reference on the subject.
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51
Moon USA National Parks: The Complete Guide to All 59 Parks
Becky Lomax
4.1
They've been dubbed America's best idea for a reason: get inspired, get outdoors, and discover the wild beauty of the United States with Moon USA National Parks. Inside you'll find:
Coverage of all 59 national parks, from the misty mountains of the east and the redwoods of the west, to the glaciers of Alaska and volcanoes of Hawaii, organized by region
Strategic lists and itineraries: Choose from lists of the best parks for hiking, wildlife, families, and scenic drives, or make your way down the list of the top ten national parks experiences across the country
The best outdoor adventures in every park, including backpacking, biking, mountain climbing, kayaking, rafting, and more, plus detailed hike descriptions and trail maps marked with distance, duration, effort level, and trailheads
National parks road trips with driving times and advice for linking multiple parks, interesting stops between them, and nearby attractions and state parks
Comprehensive planning resources: With detailed maps and transportation tips, you'll have the tools to explore each park or region individually, or visit multiple for an epic national parks trip
Expert advice from former park guide and award-winning author Becky Lomax on how to avoid crowds, what time of year to visit, and where to stay inside and outside the parks, from campgrounds to hotels
Know before you go: Find essential background on climate, terrain, wildlife, history, and safety precautions, plus practical information on park fees, passes, and reservations, including how to obtain and use a National Parks Pass
Gorgeous, full-color photos throughout, plus a handy keepsake section for your national parks stamps and a detachable fold-out poster map
Whether you're trekking to striking vistas, rafting a wild river, or camping under the stars, find your park adventure with Moon USA National Parks.
For more in-depth information on a specific park, check out Moon's national parks travel guides.
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52
Essential Trout Flies: Step-By-Step Tying Instructions for 31 Indispensable Pattern Styles and Their Most Useful Variations
Dave Hughes
4.1
Essential Trout Flies will help you assemble, in just two fly boxes, the flies you need to catch trout anywhere. That makes it essential reading in my book. --Rich Ostoff, professional fly tier and author of Fly-Fishing the Rocky Mountain Back-CountryHow to tie the 31 most effective trout patterns and selected variations-more than 200 recipes in allA core list of flies that will catch trout anywhere, in every season, this collection includes the most important patterns in a wide range of styles, from dry flies to streamers. The tying steps for each pattern are illustrated in step-by-step photos with detailed captions, followed by photos and recipes for the six most useful variations-217 patterns in all. Each chapter features a description of the insect the pattern imitates as well as expert information on how and when to fish the fly.
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53
Jangles: A Big Fish Story
David Shannon
4.1
Bestselling storyteller David Shannon instantly hooks readers with this stunning, highly entertaining tour-de-force--his best book ever!
Breathtaking oil paintings bursting with energy pull readers along into Big Lake, the home of Jangles, the biggest fish anyone has seen. Fishing alone at dusk, a boy feels a tug on his line and comes face-to-face with the gigantic trout--whose enormous jaw is covered with so many lures and fish hooks that he jingles and jangles when he swims. Terrified by the sight, the boy is shocked when Jangles befriends him and takes him on an adventure to the bottom of the lake. A surprise ending will leave readers laughing and shaking their heads. Here is Shannon at his very best-in a wild and witty story that begs repeated reading.
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54
The Little Book of Incredibly Useful Knots: 200 Practical Knots for Sailors, Climbers, Campers Other Adventurers
Geoffrey Budworth
4.1
Know-tying is an important skill, even essential if you are a boater, sailor, hiker, climber, or fishermen. Here in full color are the knots you need to know.
The fundamental skill of tying knots is useful in countless situations, both indoors and out. The Little Book of Incredibly Useful Knots teaches you which knot to choose and exactly how to tie it, whether you’re constructing a trout fly, repairing a hammock, mooring a boat, securing a load to a car roof rack, or engaging in a rescue or survival situation.
Compiled and written by two experts on the subject, this is an invaluable manual that explains through clear line diagrams and step-by-step descriptions how to tie more than two hundred practical knots, grouped by construction and tying method. Every entry contains a brief introduction to the history and development of the knot, its alternative names, and information on its uses and special features. Types of knots detailed include:
The book also contains a comprehensive glossary of terms to guide you through the complexities of different rope types. It helps you choose the right rope for every task.
Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for fishermen. Our books for anglers include titles that focus on fly fishing, bait fishing, fly-casting, spin casting, deep sea fishing, and surf fishing. Our books offer both practical advice on tackle, techniques, knots, and more, as well as lyrical prose on fishing for bass, trout, salmon, crappie, baitfish, catfish, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
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55
Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of North America and Mexico (2nd Edition)
Lawrence M. Page, Brooks M. Burr, et al.
4.1
There are nearly 1,000 species of freshwater fishes in North America alone, and identifying them can sometimes be a daunting task. In fact, in just the twenty years since publication of the first edition of the Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes, the number of species has risen by almost 150, including 19 marine invaders and 16 newly established nonnative species. This second edition incorporates all of these new species, plus all-new maps and a collection of new and revised plates. Some of the species can be told apart only by minute differences in coloration or shape, and these beautifully illustrated plates reveal exactly how to distinguish each species.
The guide includes detailed maps and information showing where to locate each species of fish—whether that species can be found in miles-long stretches of river or small pools that cover only dozens of square feet. The ichthyologic world of the twenty-first century is not the same as it was in the twentieth, and this brand-new edition of the definitive field guide to freshwater fishes reflects these many changes.
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56
Time Bandit: Two Brothers, the Bering Sea, and One of the World's Deadliest Jobs
Andy Hillstrand, Johnathan Hillstrand, Malcolm MacPherson
4.1
“Many brave hearts are asleep in the deep, so beware, beware,” goes the chorus of an old sailors’ sing-along that celebrates the allure and danger of the seafaring life. But make no mistake–there truly is much to beware for those who are drawn to risk their lives and seek their fortunes upon the waves. And perhaps none take more chances than the men and women who brave the tempestuous, bountiful waters of the Bering Sea. Season after season, they bond and battle with its icy depths, determined to reap yet one more rewarding harvest while eluding the ever-present threat of sudden, certain death. And among the rapidly diminishing ranks of these die-hard salts, brothers Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand have forged a reputation as fierce masters of their treacherous, enthralling trade. If you’ve watched their exploits on TV’s Deadliest Catch, you’ve only scratched the surface. To read Time Bandit is to step into their skins, smell the sea air, feel the frigid wind, and know with all your senses the exhilarating, and terrifying life on the edge.
Natives of tiny, fishing hamlet, Homer, Alaska; sons of a hard-bitten, highly successful fisherman; and born with brine in their blood, the Hillstrand boys couldn’t imagine a life without a swaying deck underfoot and a harvest of mighty Alaskan king crabs waiting to be pulled from the ocean floor. In pursuit of their daily catch, the brothers brave ice floes and heaving waves 60 feet high, the perils of 1000-lb steel traps thrown about by the punishing wind, and the constant menace of the open, hungry water.
Even the brothers’ downtime on land–where the deadly realities of the unforgiving sea are never far from their minds–is lived as if borrowed: fast and hard, haunted by the knowledge that the next season at sea could end asleep in the deep.
Here is the Hillstrands’ own heartfelt hymn to the brutally hard, gloriously independent, and mysteriously soul-satisfying life that has earned them their daily bread and defined their existence. By turns raucous and reflective, exhilarating and anguished, enthralling, suspenseful, and wise, Time Bandit chronicles a larger-than-life love affair as old as civilization itself–a love affair between striving, willful man and inscrutable, enduring nature.
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57
The Complete Book of Fishing Knots, Leaders, and Lines
Lindsey Philpott
4.1
Master every fishing knot you’ll ever need—and never lose a big bass, trout, salmon, pike, or striper again
When you’re fishing, there’s nothing more frustrating than letting a poorly tied knot cost you the catch of the day. Knot expert Lindsey Philpott has written a guide to save anglers everywhere that anguish. The Complete Book of Fishing Knots, Leaders, and Lines contains directions for fifty kinds of knots, ranging from easier knots for beginners to specialized knots for more experienced fishermen.
Each knot is explained with step-by-step instructions and color photographs, all done using a thick monofilament to make them as easy to see as possible. Here are just a few of the various types of knots you’ll learn:
Arbor Australian braid Palomar Japanese fisherman Bimini twist Paragum And many more!
Also included is a glossary of terms to ensure that every part of the knot-tying process is easy to learn. The Complete Book of Fishing Knots, Leaders, and Lines offers clear instructions for tying winning leaders, tips for selecting lines, and up-to-date information from the field that will bring you the quickest, slickest, and best catch ever. Whether you’re trolling for huge marlin on the open seas or fishing for blue gill in your favorite fishing hole, this book is a must-have for fishermen of all abilities.
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58
Fifty Places to Fly Fish Before You Die: Fly-Fishing Experts Share the Worlds Greatest Destinations
Chris Santella
4.1
Presenting 50 of the world's finest locations for fly fishing, the author describes the essence of fishing in exotic and beautiful locations. From Cuba to Kamchatka or the Florida Keys to Mongolia, this guide provides the information and inspiration for a more ambitious fishing adventure.
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59
A River Never Sleeps
Roderick L. Haig-Brown, Louis Darling
4.1
An enduring classic of angling literature that captures the music of rivers and the great joy of angling. "Reading a Roderick Haig-Brown book is an experience to be savored slowly and delicately". -- Seattle Post Intelligencer
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60
Kevin VanDam's Bass Strategies
Kevin VanDam with Louie Stout, Louie Stout, et al.
4.1
#1 Guide For Bass Fishing
Want to catch more fish?
The best way to catch more fish: Bass Fishing Books
You’re about to discover proven ways to catch more bass and also bigger bass. Experience is vital to get better at fishing, but if you're a newbie the best way to get that experience is to learn from others and that's what this book provides. This book goes into some great details on a few key strategies that even the most novice fisherman can use to catch more bass.
Here Is A Preview Of What You'll Learn...
Prepping Up Bass Fishing Checklist The Parts of your Tackle Choosing the Right Rod for Bass Fishing The Fishing Rigs Where the Bass Are When to Catch Bass Fishing Techniques Much, much more!
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61
The Total Fly Fishing Manual: 307 Tips and Tricks from Expert Anglers
Joe Cermele and The Editors of Field and Stream
4.1
From the same team that brought you the Total Fishing Manual , comes the book fly fishing fanatics have been waiting for: The Total Fly Fishing Manual: 307 Tips and Tricks from Expert Anglers. The Total Fly Fishing Manual is the most comprehensive collection of expert fly fishing advice and up-to-date gear reviews. This book gathers the best tips, old school-techniques that still deliver and adds a wealth of new material.
Filled with over 300 hints from the best anglers in both salt and fresh water, the editors of Field and Stream give you everything you need to make the perfect pitch, find a secret spot and score a fish.
TOOLS From the best flies of all time to the best reel for the job and when to change your hooks learn about the tools you needed for the job. As well as practical skills like tying a Palomar knot, how to unravel flylines, the five-minute fly, tying a clouser minnow, and how to lose the tailing loop. TECHNIQUES From old to new, everything you need to know to strike in the night, put a different spin on it, spot and stalk, shoot the breeze and find where they feed. TACTICS Put yourself in the best position for the catch: get up the creek for a late-season trout, find a secret spot, sneak up on more fish, fish headwaters for autumn trout, fish with your eyes, hook more rising fish, take the long shot, and dominate the shoreline.
Whether you’re fishing for, salmon, bass or carp this guide will help you improve your technique, upgrade your equipment and hook your prize fish.
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62
Dynamic Nymphing: Tactics, Techniques, and Flies from Around the World
George Daniel
4.1
Advanced tight line nymphing tactics, including Czech, Polish, French, Spanish, and American techniques Rigging and fishing dry and droppers, curly Qs, and conventional indicators Fishing the extremes: shallow water, cold weather, high water, wind Casting and technique sequences that include tuck cast, bow and arrow cast, as well as elevating and leading when tight line nymphing62 nymph patterns
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63
Trout: An Illustrated History
James Prosek
4.1
Having developed a passion for fishing as a boy, James Prosek searched in vain for a book that catalogued the trout he had come to treasure. Then he began painting them himself, inspired by John James Audubon's classic bird portraits. This is the dazzlingly beautiful result, with more than seventy original watercolors by a true prodigy--only twenty years old and already considered "a fair bid to become the Audubon of the fishing world" (The New York Times). The trout of North America range from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and from the Arctic Circle to the Tropic of Cancer. No other book pictures all of the popular varieties, much less the rare, exotic, and in some cases extinct species, subspecies, and strains included in this comprehensive collection. Char; Apache, Gila, and Mexican trout; rainbow, redband, and golden trout; cutthroat trout; brown trout and Atlantic salmon--each of these, and many more, are captured in vivid watercolors, along with engaging, informative descriptions of their evolution and habitats. With youthful passion and stunning accuracy, James Prosek celebrates as never before the indelicble beauty and variety of the trout, and makes an eloquent plea for its preservation. An unprecedented reference, Trout is essential for the serious angler--and a glorious introduction for anyone who loves fishing and the outdoors.
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64
McElligot's Pool
Dr. Seuss
4.1
Who knows what fantastic fish might swim in McElligot's Pool!
In this colorful picture book, a boy named Marco goes fishing in a small pond called McElligot's Pool. As he sits waiting for a bite, a farmer calls him a fool and says "You'll never catch fish in McElligot's Pool!" Marco, however, refuses to be discouraged and spends the rest of the story describing all the fish that could be coming to McElligot's Pool from the ocean. The story ends with Marco still fishing and the farmer scratching his beard and looking confused. The use of color and illustrations blur the line between fantasy and reality during Marco's story, creating one of the most interesting aspects of the book. The text is made up of catchy rhymes and intriguing fish descriptions. The pictures complement the text and make the fish descriptions seem real. Interestingly, Seuss illustrates every other page in black and white. At the beginning of the story when Marco sits by the pond, the black and white emphasizes the concrete reality of the Marco talking to the farmer. After page one, every other page is in color. The color magnifies Marco's fantasy about all of the fish, making them seem beautiful and real. At the same time, the black and white pages make Marco's fish descriptions seem realistic. Seuss's use of the black-and-white pictures during Marco's whimsical descriptions in the text could be his way of toning down the fantasy and bringing it into the context of every day life. The use of color to blend reality and fantasy also emphasizes optimism in the story. The farmer was probably right in telling Marco that he will "never catch fish in McElligot's Pool." With the clever use of color and illustrations, however, Dr. Seuss undermines the fisherman's certainty and makesMarco's claim that there might be fish in McElligot's Pool believable. McElligot's Pool sends the message that life is not always as it seems, that it is not as simple as b
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65
The Old Man and the Boy
Robert Chester Ruark
4.1
This classic memoir captures the relationship between a man and his grandson as they fish and hunt the lakes and woods of North Carolina. All the while the Old Man acts as teacher and guide, passing on his wisdom and life experiences to the boy.
Author, Robert Ruark grew up in North Carolina. His grandfather was his mentor, his companion in the field, his teacher at streamside and lake. Young Ruark thought he was learning to fish and hunt -- really he was learning about life. Decades later, long after the old man was gone, Ruark realized how many of the lessons still sustained him. He paid his debt in this one-of-a-kind memoir.
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66
Snow Falling on Cedars
David Guterson
4.1
Gripping, tragic, and densely atmospheric—a masterpiece of suspense San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound, is a place so isolated that no one who lives there can afford to make enemies. But in 1954 a local fisherman is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese American named Kabuo Miyamoto is charged with his murder. In the course of the ensuing trial, it becomes clear that what is at stake is more than a man's guilt. For on San Pedro, memories of a charmed love affair between a white boy and the Japanese girl who grew up to become Kabuo's wife; memories of land desired, paid for, and lost. Above all, San Piedro is haunted by the memory of what happened to its Japanese residents during World War II, when an entire community was sent into exile while its neighbors watched.
So here are my three must read books. I've been reading a lot of great books like: Outsmart Your Instincts, The Culture Code, and Antonio Damasio’s The Strange Order, and sometimes when you read a lot of nonfiction it’s very enriching, sometimes you need a novel. I really believe you should take a minute and read something beautiful. Listen, listen to Lolita by Nabokov. But also listen to Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy and listen to Richard Poe narrate that. Those are two of the greatest feats of the english language that I can think of. Then there’s Fortress of Solitude, an amazing book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, these are great novels. Cold Mountain is a beautiful novel, Snow Falling On Cedars, I mean they’ve been around for a while. But goddamnit, get those under your belt. Those are the novels I think you should read. You know Love In The Time Of Cholera it just makes you ache. Kind of like a Hemingway thing, where Hemingway “ahh!”, it’s the same thing, you know. So I don’t know, I’m a fan of all those books. Those are my 3 slash 20 books. [source]
Scott Turow
it’s just a superb novel, full of really beautiful characterizations – the reporter who’s covering this trial, and his elderly lawyer who’s defending the case is quite a remarkable character. [source]
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67
Nymphs for Streams and Stillwaters
Dave Hughes
4.1
The authoritative book on nymphsStep-by-step instructions for 112 useful nymph fliesMore than 900 photos of natural nymphs, their imitations, and steps in tying those fliesNymphs for Streams and Stillwaters provides a sound understanding of the relationship between naturals and their imitations, and between those imitations and the trout. You'll learn what nymphs you should spend your time tying, you'll learn how to tie them, and most important, you'll learn where and how to fish them in order to catch more trout.Nymphs for Streams and Stillwaters is broken logically into four parts. The first part is an introduction to the way nymphing shapes itself with notes on streamside and lakeside observation, nymph selection based on what you observe, and recommendations on tools and materials for both basic and advanced methods for tying nymphs that take trout. The second part deals with the selection and detailed tying of all sorts of effective searching nymph patterns for moving water. The third part examines imitative nymphs for moving waters, tightly relating naturals to their imitations. The fourth part covers stillwater nymphs. Trout are ore often selective in lakes and ponds, and the things they eat in stillwaters are often unlike trout foods in rivers and streams.Hughes takes a subject that has been considered complex and confusing and makes it understandable, presenting the information that you really need to improve your tying and your fishing. Nymphs for Streams and Stillwaters is destined to be the step-by-step reference to tying and fishing every nymph you'll ever need. Filled with good advice from a trusted master of the subject, it is the most thorough and enjoyable book about selecting, tying, and fishing nymphs that has ever been written.
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68
Basic Fishing: A Beginner's Guide
Wade Bourne
4.0
A great beginner’s guide for new fishermen and those who want to learn to fish for fun, with advice on tackle, bait, boats, accessories, and more.
New to fishing and have no idea how to start? With Basic Fishing, you’ll be an accomplished angler in no time at all. Expert angler and award-winning outdoor writer Wade Bourne was taught to fish by his father. In turn, Bourne taught his children how to fish. Now he brings his expertise to Basic Fishing, a step-by-step guide that masterfully breaks down the art of fishing with diagrams, vivid photographs, and lessons. You'll learn all about:
How to catch fish—guaranteed! Different types of fishing equipment How to select bait, lures, and tackle Where and how to find good fishing spots Boats, boat accessories, and motors Methods for cooking and cleaning fish Increasing your fishing skills Fishing safety And more!
This book is great for families looking to bond in the great outdoors, and it proves that the joy of fishing can last a lifetime and beyond as it is passed down from generation to generation.
Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for fishermen. Our books for anglers include titles that focus on fly fishing, bait fishing, fly-casting, spin casting, deep sea fishing, and surf fishing. Our books offer both practical advice on tackle, techniques, knots, and more, as well as lyrical prose on fishing for bass, trout, salmon, crappie, baitfish, catfish, and more.
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69
Flyfishing the High Country
John Gierach
4.0
- Tactics for fishing high country lakes, the conflicting currents of high mountain streams, and the ever-changing waters of beaver ponds - Cutthroats, brook trout, goldens, rainbows, grayling - The best weather and seasons to fish and the tackle and flies to take into the high country "The mountains--any mountains--can make you pay for your fishing with time, shoe leather, exertion, and even disappointment. But they usually give back more than they take in terms of solitude and a sense of adventure that you just won't find on more civilized waters." --John Gierach Fly-fishing in scenic and remote mountain waters is a special kind of fishing, explored in depth by veteran fly fisher John Gierach. Along with Fly Fishing Small Streams (0-8117-2290-2), this guide, Gierach's first book, now in print with Stackpole Books, explains how to find the best waters and how to fish them to the best advantage.
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70
Dad, I Want to Hear Your Story: A Father's Guided Journal To Share His Life & His Love
Jeffrey Mason
4.0
Show You Father How Much You Love and Appreciate Him by Giving Him the Gift of Memories and Legacy
Dad, I Want to Hear Your Story is the place for fathers to tell their tales and create a cherished legacy.
Imagine reading this rich record of your father's journey. Imagine sitting with your children and sharing with them your dad's story and one day them sharing it with their kids.
Dad, I Want to Hear Your Story will guide your father with questions, assisting him in sharing the stories of his childhood, his teens, and his adult years. This will be his tale, his triumphs, his challenges. This will be the story of your hero.
Bestselling author Jeffrey Mason has created a guided journal that will give your father the gift of legacy and you the gift of memories. Buy Dad, I Want to Hear Your Story. Give your father a gift that will give more and more as the years go by..
"I can't wait to read what my Dad writes about his life. There is so much I want to know." -Chris Darling
"My father has always been my hero and I want to know as much as I can about who he is." -Cindy Collingsworth
"This gift if for my dad and me." -Steve Syphax
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71
Hooked
Tommy Greenwald, David McPhail
4.0
A boy and his dad discover all they have in common on a fishing trip in Hooked, a sweet picture book about father-son bonding by Tommy Greenwald with illustrations by David McPhail.
Joe loves fishing. He loves watching the water and looking at the sky, he loves the peacefulness, and he especially loves dreaming about catching the Big One.
Joe’s dad does not love fishing. He doesn’t like the waiting, or the worms, or the fact that nothing much happens.
But when Joe needs a parental chaperone for an ice-fishing field trip, his dad agrees to go along. And when the waiting turns into talking, exchanging jokes, and sharing hot chocolate, Joe's dad discovers something unexpected.
He doesn’t just like fishing with Joe―he loves it.
You could even say he’s hooked.
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72
Caterpillar Summer
Gillian McDunn
4.0
Cat and her brother Chicken have always had a very special bond--Cat is one of the few people who can keep Chicken happy. When he has a "meltdown" she's the one who scratches his back and reads his favorite story. She's the one who knows what Chicken needs. Since their mom has had to work double-hard to keep their family afloat after their father passed away, Cat has been the glue holding her family together.
But even the strongest glue sometimes struggles to hold. When a summer trip doesn't go according to plan, Cat and Chicken end up spending three weeks with grandparents they never knew. For the first time in years, Cat has the opportunity to be a kid again, and the journey she takes shows that even the most broken or strained relationships can be healed if people take the time to walk in one another's shoes.
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73
The Fish's Eye: Essays about Angling and the Outdoors
Ian Frazier
4.0
In The Fish's Eye: Essays About Angling and the Outdoors, Ian Frazier explores his lifelong passion for fishing, fish, and the aquatic world. He sees the angler's environment all around him--in New York's Grand Central Station, in the cement-lined pond of a city park, in a shimmering bonefish flat in the Florida Keys, in the trout streams of the Rocky Mountains. He marvels at the fishing in the turbid Ohio River by downtown Cincinnati, where a good bait for catfish is half a White Castle french fry. The incidentals of the angling experience, the who and the where of it, interest him as much as what he catches and how. The essays contain sharply focused observations of the American outdoors, a place filled with human alterations and detritus that somehow remain defiantly unruined. Frazier's simple love of the sport lifts him to a straight-ahead angling description that's among the best contemporary writing on the subject. The Fish's Eye brings together twenty years of heartfelt, funny, and vivid essays on a timeless pursuit where so many mysteries, both human and natural, coincide.
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74
The Orvis Guide to Small Stream Fly Fishing
Tom Rosenbauer
4.0
The definitive and comprehensive guide to fishing small trout streams throughout North America. Tired of the famous and crowded rivers, today’s anglers have a greater desire to get close to nature while staying closer to home. The Orvis Guide to Small Stream Fly Fishing provides all the information for finding and fishing unspoiled gems found everywhere from wilderness areas to suburban backyards. These often overlooked streams are abundant throughout the United States, and range from the Appalachians—from Maine to Georgia—to northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, the Black Hills of South Dakota, the entire Rocky Mountain region from Montana to northern Arizona, and the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges. As more fishing is done close to home, small trout streams, or third-order streams as described by hydrologists, are thirty times as abundant as the bigger, more famous trout streams and most of them are on public land, making them more accessible. This beautifully illustrated and definitive resource explains the small stream environment, how to find these streams, how small-stream trout behave, how to read the water, special casts, fly selection, and how to present the fly in all types of small streams. With this book, anglers can find and catch wild trout far off the beaten path.
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75
Bear and Hare Go Fishing
Emily Gravett
4.0
Bear and Hare are off on a fishing trip, with nets and rods at the ready. Bear loves fishing! Hare seems more interested in his picnic. But after a long wait, the two adventurers catch more than they expect in this tale of fun, friendship and fishy goings-on.
Full of warmth and humour, and starring two loveable new characters, this beautifully illustrated story from the twice winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal is sure to delight children and parents alike. Look out for more Bear and Hare stories coming soon!
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76
Double Whammy (Skink #1)
Carl Hiaasen
4.0
R.J. Decker, star tenant of the local trailer park and neophyte private eye is fishing for a killer. Thanks to a sportsman's scam that's anything but sportsmanlike, there's a body floating in Coon Bog, Florida -- and a lot that's rotten in the murky waters of big-stakes, large-mouth bass tournaments. Here Decker will team up with a half-blind, half-mad hermit with an appetite for road kill; dare to kiss his ex-wife while she's in bed with her new husband; and face deadly TV evangelists, dangerously seductive women, and a pistol-toting redneck with a pit bull on his arm. And here his own life becomes part of the stakes. For while the "double whammy" is the lure, first prize is for the most ingenious murder.
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77
Fly Tier’s Benchside Reference: to Techniques and Dressing Styles
Ted Leeson, Jim Schollmeyer
4.0
This extraordinary book focuses specifically on trout flies, many of the methods discussed can be used or adapted to dress patterns for other species. This encyclopedic treatment of fly tying includes: selecting materials, thread handling, hooks, mounting and trimming materials, weighting hooks, tying techniques for underbodies, weed guards, tails, ribbing, gills, bodies, wings, legs, heads, eyes and more. Materials covered include beads, foam, plastic, tinsels, feathers, fur, you name it. With over 3000 full-colour photographs and over 400 tying methods discussed, all you fly-tying questions will be answered. The Fly Tier's Bench Reference is the perfect companion for anyone who ties flies, keep it at your side and you'll find yourself referring to it continuously.
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78
Fly Fishing for Trout: The Next Level
Tom Rosenbauer
4.0
Fly fishers often ask Tom Rosenbauer how they can take their angling to the next level, and in his latest book the Orvis manager, expert fly fisher, instructor, tier, and award-winning author sets out to help them do just that. With forty years in the business, Rosenbauer knows the information fly fishers need to step up their game--whatever the level. Tom answers the top questions asked by anglers looking to take the next step. He offers advice on casting and rigging techniques that are beyond the basic level taught in fly-fishing schools but are essential if you want to be more successful, and he includes QR codes to take you to videos of his teaching tips in action.
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79
The Lady of the Rivers (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #1; Cousins War #3)
Philippa Gregory
4.0
Jacquetta, daughter of the Count of Luxembourg and kinswoman to half the royalty of Europe, was married to the great Englishman John, Duke of Bedford, uncle to Henry VI. Widowed at the age of 19, she took the extraordinary risk of marrying a gentleman of her household for love, and then carved out a new life for herself.
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80
Charlie Craven's Basic Fly Tying: Modern Techniques for Flies That Catch Fish
Charlie Craven
4.0
Learn to tie 17 popular nymphs, dry flies, and streamersMaster fundamental tying techniques in a series of practical lessons Charlie Craven's Basic Fly Tying is a modern course in fly-tying fundamentals covering the essential tools, materials, and techniques needed to tie a wide range of popular flies. With 1,000 photos, Craven covers cutting-edge techniques for the more tried-and-true classics, such as the Royal Wulff, Adams, and Hare's Ear, and shares innovative approaches to current patterns such as the Brassie, RS2, and Copper John.With clear, concise text, Craven provides tips and techniques from his over thirty years of tying flies for fly shops on Colorado's Front Range. This book is built on Craven's successful fly-tying classes, which start out with simple flies and work toward more complex patterns, all the while teaching techniques and introducing materials by tying popular patterns that catch fish in Eastern and Western streams. This series of lessons show how flies build on one another, enabling readers to tie a wide range of patterns simply by breaking them down into parts. Craven illustrates the progression with his meticulous directions to fingerbusters like Copper Johns, Stimulators, and Humpies.This book, which is sure to become a standard text for basic fly tying, covers 17 flies (including recipes for popular variations), including the Brassie, Black Beauty, RS2, Hare's Ear, Pheasant Tail, Prince Nymph, Copper John, Woolly Bugger, Elk Hair Caddis, Stimulator, Adams, Rusty Spinner, Parachute Blue-Winged Olive, X Comparadun, Royal Wulff, Humpy, and Goddard Caddis.
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81
Trout Flies: The Tier's Reference
Dave Hughes
4.0
The ultimate reference. Step-by-step tying instructions for 500 flies, with sequential color photos. Includes fishing notes and chapters on techniques, tools, and materials.
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82
Striper Pursuit: Surf Fishing Beyond the Basics
John Skinner
4.0
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83
The Young Man and the Sea
Rodman Philbrick
4.0
Twelve-year-old Skiff Beaman's mom just died, and his fisherman dad is too depressed to drag himself off the couch and go to work. So these days Skiff has to take care of everything himself. But when his dad's boat sinks, Skiff discovers it will cost thousands to buy a new engine. Skiff's lobster traps won't earn him enough, but there are bigger fish in the sea -- bluefin tuna. If he can catch one of those monster fish, Skiff just might save the boat -- and his family
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84
Come Home Already!
Jory John, Benji Davies
4.0
From the creators of Goodnight Already! and I Love You Already!
Duck wants to hang out with Bear.
But Bear’s gone fishing for a whole week.
What will Duck do while Bear is gone? How will he survive without his best pal?!
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85
438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea
Jonathan Franklin
4.0
Declared “the best survival book in a decade” by Outside Magazine, 438 Days is the true story of the man who survived fourteen months in a small boat drifting seven thousand miles across the Pacific Ocean.
On November 17, 2012, two men left the coast of Mexico for a weekend fishing trip in the open Pacific. That night, a violent storm ambushed them as they were fishing eighty miles offshore. As gale force winds and ten-foot waves pummeled their small, open boat from all sides and nearly capsized them, captain Salvador Alvarenga and his crewmate cut away a two-mile-long fishing line and began a desperate dash through crashing waves as they sought the safety of port.
Fourteen months later, on January 30, 2014, Alvarenga, now a hairy, wild-bearded and half-mad castaway, washed ashore on a nearly deserted island on the far side of the Pacific. He could barely speak and was unable to walk. He claimed to have drifted from Mexico, a journey of some seven thousand miles.
A “gripping saga,” (Daily Mail), 438 Days is the first-ever account of one of the most amazing survival stories in modern times. Based on dozens of hours of exclusive interviews with Alvarenga, his colleagues, search-and-rescue officials, the remote islanders who found him, and the medical team that saved his life, 438 Days is not only “an intense, immensely absorbing read” (Booklist) but an unforgettable study of the resilience, will, ingenuity and determination required for one man to survive more than a year lost and adrift at sea.
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86
Clouser's Flies: Tying and Fishing the Fly Patterns of Bob Clouser
Bob Clouser
4.0
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87
BugWater
Arlen Thomason
4.0
Bugwater is that soggy place inhabited by creepy, crawly, hopping, flying, wriggling creatures we call, if imprecisely, bugs. Organized around the seasons, BugWater follows the bugs and the trout through their life cycles from spring through winter. Thomason's stunningly striking photos and fascinating narratives show off the bugs up close, in amazing detail. With the author's insights as both a scientist and fly fisher and his expertise as a photographer, this book delivers solid content all fly fisher's can learn from.Covers all popular trout foods--mayflies, caddis, stoneflies, midges Startling, spectacular photos of the bugs up close
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88
Tactical Fly Fishing: Lessons Learned from Competition for All Anglers
Devin Olsen
4.0
Devin Olsen explains how the techniques he has used to become a repeat medalist in fly fishing competitions around the world can be adapted to everyday fly fishing situations. He covers strategies, tactics, and flies for rivers, small streams, and still waters, allowing anyone to fish more successfully by applying the approaches taken by competitive anglers.
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89
The Founding Fish
John McPhee
4.0
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90
The L.L. Bean Ultimate Book of Fly Fishing
Macauley Lord, Dick Talleur, Dave Whitlock
4.0
The Lyons Press is proud to present The L.L. Bean Ultimate Book of Fly Fishing, an exciting full-color book for beginning and expert fly anglers alike. Brought to you in conjunction with L.L. Bean, America's most trusted name in outdoor apparel, and written by unquestioned experts in the field, this book is divided into four essential parts--General Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing for Bass, Fly Casting, and Fly Tying--and covers each with in-depth analysis in clear, easy-to-follow language. Learn about assembly of fly tackle; the biology of fish; natural fish foods and how to imitate them; safety techniques; bass flies; where to find bass; the eleven habits of highly effective fly casters; the basic four-part cast; the roll cast; the basics of fly tying; types of flies; the top ten most popular and successful fly patterns; and much more. The L.L. Bean Ultimate Book of Fly Fishing is the perfect gift for seasoned anglers looking to improve their skills, novices picking up a fly rod for the first time, and for all those who have ever dreamed of trading in their suits for a pair of waders.
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91
Dead Frenzy (A Loon Lake Mystery, #4)
Victoria Houston
4.0
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92
Spring Creek
Nick Lyons
4.0
For years, Nick Lyons has been one of the most popular fishing writers in America. Now, in Spring Creek, he has created his masterpiece.
Spring Creek is one of those rare places where the trout are as long as your arm but also exceedingly difficult to catch. Lyons recounts a month's adventures on this river, a time in which he explores its secrets and confronts its greatest challenges. At first he catches little. Then, slowly, he acquires the various and special skills and disciplines necessary to take the large, wary brown trout of this extraordinary river.
Spring Creek is the record of halcyon days astream. It is a fisherman's book, drawing a rare portrait of an angler actually learning to fish more wisely, filled with battles between angler and trout, a few epic victories, and even more epic defeats.
Spring Creek is a richly humorous and perceptive account of an angler's passion for his sport - and a book all fishermen will cherish.
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93
Outdoor Kids Club Ultimate Fishing Guide
Dave D. Shellhaas and Steve A. Shellhaas
4.0
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94
Fly Fishing for Smallmouth Bass
Harry Murray
4.0
Murray discusses all aspects of fly fishing for smallmouth from top-water flies to the new brands of streamer, nymph, and "strymph" fishing.
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95
How I Fish
Jeremy Wade
4.0
The star of the Discovery Channel's River Monsters and author of the bestselling River Monsters shares a meditation on fishing--and life.
In his bestselling first book, Jeremy Wade, the star of the hit TV series River Monsters, memorably recounted his adventures on six continents in pursuit of fish of staggering proportions and terrifying demeanor. Now "the greatest angling explorer of his generation" (Independent on Sunday) returns to delight readers with a book of an entirely different sort, the book he was always destined to write--the distillation of a life spent fishing. Thoughtful and funny, brimming with wisdom and above all, adventure, these are pitch-perfect reflections that anyone who has ever fished will identify with, for ultimately it touches on what fishing teaches us all about life.
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96
The Seasonable Angler: Journeys Through a Fisherman's Year
Nick Lyons
4.0
Nick Lyons's first fishing book, The Seasonable Angler, is the story of a fisherman's year, from the projects and fantasies of an angler's winter through the thrill of a June evening's rise on the Beaverkill, and on to the pleasures and melancholia of autumn trout fishing.In a book of spirited contrasts, Nick Lyons recounts hilarious misadventures on Opening Day and on family trips, as well as quiet moments when the fisherman becomes contemplative and close to nature. Lyons captures the excitement of catching a first trout -- and the sadness of having killed, at times, too many fish. There is an increasing respect for the natural world, for conservation, for the spirit of the sport.
The Seasonable Angler is not only for avid fishermen but for everyone who appreciates fine writing about nature and who wants to understand what animates that strong clan of people who fish.
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97
The Seventh Wish
Kate Messner
4.0
Charlie feels like she's always coming in last. From her Mom's new job to her sister's life at college, everything seems more important than Charlie. Then one day while ice fishing, Charlie makes a discovery that will change everything . . . in the form of a floppy fish offering to grant a wish in exchange for freedom. Charlie can't believe her luck but soon realizes that this fish has a very odd way of granting wishes as even her best intentions go awry. But when her family faces a challenge bigger than any they've ever experienced, Charlie wonders if some things might be too important to risk on a wish fish.
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98
The Painter
Peter Heller
4.0
Peter Heller, the celebrated author of the breakout best seller The Dog Stars, returns with an achingly beautiful, wildly suspenseful second novel about an artist trying to outrun his past.
Jim Stegner has seen his share of violence and loss. Years ago he shot a man in a bar. His marriage disintegrated. He grieved the one thing he loved. In the wake of tragedy, Jim, a well-known expressionist painter, abandoned the art scene of Santa Fe to start fresh in the valleys of rural Colorado. Now he spends his days painting and fly-fishing, trying to find a way to live with the dark impulses that sometimes overtake him. He works with a lovely model. His paintings fetch excellent prices. But one afternoon, on a dirt road, Jim comes across a man beating a small horse, and a brutal encounter rips his quiet life wide open. Fleeing Colorado, chased by men set on retribution, Jim returns to New Mexico, tormented by his own relentless conscience.
A stunning, savage novel of art and violence, love and grief, The Painter is the story of a man who longs to transcend the shadows in his heart, a man intent on using the losses he has suffered to create a meaningful life.
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99
Trout Fishing in America
Richard Brautigan
4.0
Richard Brautigan was a literary idol of the 1960s and 1970s whose comic genius and iconoclastic vision of American life caught the imagination of young people everywhere. He came of age during the Haight-Ashbury period and has been called “the last of the Beats.” His early books became required reading for the hip generation, and on its publication Trout Fishing in America became an international bestseller. An indescribable romp, the novel is best summed up in one word: mayonnaise.
This new edition includes an introduction by the poet Billy Collins, who first encountered Brautigan’s work as a student in California.
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