Favorite Fishing Books

[sdlehr]

I'll offer up another which may be slightly out of place on this forum. A Passion for Tarponby Andy Mill.  He's the five time winner of the Gold Cup and the book is an exhaustive work on the fish and how to fish for them. It has some of the most beautiful photography anywhere.  If you love tarpon, it's a must have edition to your library.

Correction, if you love tarpon AND have very deep pockets. The book sells for around $350 https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0984227121/ref=sr_1_1_twi_har_1_olp?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1467845301&sr=1-1&keywords=a+passion+for+tarpon

Sid

[spc7669]

I met Andy Mill at a fly fishing show. He was as nice a guy as you'll ever meet. Gave my 10 year old nephew an impromptu casting lesson and spent 15 or 20 minutes talking to him about fishing. I'll never forget the way he took that time with a kid he didn't know. My nephew is 17 now and still talks about casting with Andy Mill.

Then he gave me a fly from his fly box to use on my trip. I framed that fly and bought the stuff to tie my own copy.

He didn't have any copies of the book, but wrote my info down and sent me an autographed personalized copy. Cost me a hundred bucks. They are still available at that price from the publisher, Wild River Press.

[Vintage Offshore Tackle]

Non-fiction:  Profiles in Saltwater Angling by George Reiger
Fiction: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Semi-fiction: Tales of Fishing Virgin Seas by Zane Grey
Magazine Column: Looking Astern by Ed Ries

[spc7669]

I have a duck hunting book by George Reiger called  The Wings of Dawn. He is a great writer.

[Makule]

There are two books on fishing that I've enjoyed:  First is "Shore Fishing in Hawaii", by Edward Hosaka.  I wore it out when I was a young kid.  The next was by Peter Goadby, "Big Fish and Blue Water".  The latter was the first time I read about Everol reels.  As for reel books, my favorite is "A Conversation With Oscar Kovalovsky" by Douglas and Lauve.

[Penn Chronology]

As for reel books, my favorite is "A Conversation With Oscar Kovalovsky" by Douglas and Lauve.

Great book, available at the Whitefish Press.

[foakes]

Many good books -- this has always been one of my favorites -- no hype...just techniques, facts, and proven methods.

Was first published in 72 -- I got it around 77.

Best,

Fred

[David Hall]

There are books about fishing?
My dad gave me my first book, everything you need to know about fishing, it's a little pocket sized book.
Every page is blank, he told me every time I go fishing I should write down what I did and what happened.
I never wrote a thing in it and I still have it 52 yrs later.  I figured the author and publisher intended it that way.
The early lessons I learned.
If you caught it in the river tell them you caught it in the lake.  If you caught it in the lake, tell them you caught it in the river!
If you caught it on a fly, tell them you caught it on a worm!  You get the idea it goes on.  Point is don't tell anybody anything useful and damn sure don't ever tell anyone where you fished.  My greatest joy was out fishing my dad and my grandfather who lived right on the feather river in a little town called Clio.  He always recommended my brothers and I fish the river with rooster tails,  we figured that meant worms!  But we fished rooster tails, super dupers and panther martins.  Never caught much.  One day my younger brother discovered a secret worm bed beside the house, now why would grandpa grow night crawlers if he wasn't fishing with them.  We asked permission to catch a few and try them out.  Grandpa said you'll never catch anything in that river on a night rawer, stay out of my worm bed!  We decided grandpa needed to be taught a lesson, we scoured his gravel driveway for an hour searching for the perfect rock, it needed to be as perfectly round as a rock could be and just small enough to fit through the inlet on the fuel tank of his GMC which had the old suicide tank behind the seat.  We finally found it and dropped it in.  We laughed every time we thought about it.
Every time we saw grandpa after that we'd ask, how's your truck!  He always answered fine why do you ask?
No reason grandpa.  It wasn't until after his death some 10 yrs later that grandma came to us and asked which one of us put the marble in grandpas tank?  We told her the story and she told us every time the road got uneven that thing would roll across the tank and nock into the side, then it would roll back,  Grandpa would smile and laugh, but he never let on to us.  We went back and stole his worms after putting the rock in his gas tank then went down to the river and I proceeded to land a beautiful 4lb steelhead, my younger brother hooked up minutes later, there was a man on the bridge above us screaming down, he ran down and pushed me aside and cast a big lure over my brothers line and slid it down and hooked the fish ripping it off my brother Steves line.  He quickly reeled in one just like mine, grabbed it and ran off still screaming!  We looked at each other in shock and amazement.  Cussed for awhile and started to go back to fishing when I heard snorting behind us.
I turned around and there was a 2000 lb angus bull standing not 20' behind us, snorting and pawing the ground.  I put my hand on Steves shoulder and whispered we have to leave now,  Steve didn't care about the bull, I had to drag him up the hill and to this day he's still mad because I wouldn't let him stay and catch a fish.
We got back to grandpas and everyone wanted to know the story, so we told them the truth,  good one boys you practiced that one pretty good.  To this day I don't think anyone believes it but as I live and breath it is 100% the gods honest truth. 

[Tightlines667]

I enjoyed that one David.

[David Hall]

Thank you I hoped some would enjoy it. 

[spc7669]

David,

Some of the best writers tell stories just like that. I really enjoyed it. Reminded me of fishing for red eye bass in the creek on the farm where I grew up.

[Sonnett]

I have collected pre-1960 bass fishing books since before 1960. I'm pretty sure I have them all. Many are informative and give insights to the earlier developments in freshwater tackle. The books I like best are those that entertain as they inform. There is no substitute for a good story teller. Two books I have always enjoyed are Advanced Bait Casting by Charles K. Fox (1949) and Black Bass Lore by Wallace Gallaher (1936) These as most older books are always available on used book sites such as abebooks.

[festus]

Growing up in the 1960s, there were two books that really stand out.

My first was A Guide to Fresh and Salt-Water Fishing, in the Golden Guide series. Cost--$1.00 in the early to mid-1960s. It was full of color pics and plenty of information for a 12 year old novice. Next was The Fresh-Water Fisherman's Bible by Vlad Evanoff, published in 1964.

[Tightlines667]

*

[oc1]

Harlin Majors' book again
Amateur Rodmaking (1914) P.D. Frazer
Fly-Fishing for Bonefish (2004) Chico Fernandes
Glory of the Silver King - The Golden Age of Tarpon Fishing (2011) Hart Stilwell
Lucas on Bass Fishing (1947) Jason Lucas