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Individual taste in books varies as much as the favorite rod or fly. With that in mind, we hope to review books and videos from the ever-growing fly fishing world, and share them with you. Books will be the best of all worlds, new and old. Many of the old books are now available in reprint, and the wisdom contained is timely today. Others can be found in second-hand book stores, or by mail order dealers. As we find videos we feel are outstanding they will be included. Be assured, reviews are based on what we have actually read or viewed, and due to that fact, may not appear weekly.
THE THEORY AND TECHNIQUE OF FRESHWATER ANGLING
By John Alden Knight
Last week, in a local thrift store, I stumbled across a copy of The Theory and Technique of Fresh Water Angling by John Alden Knight. That may have been the best $1.99 investment I have ever made. I confess I had never heard of Mr. Knight. This was just the luck of being in the right place at the right time.
The book was published in 1940. The copyright page shows this notice. I guess the effects of World War II were already having impacting the publishing world. But those restrictions didn’t affect the quality of the paper. My copy is 70 years old and the paper is crisp and clean. No significant yellowing.
As soon as I got home, I sat down and read the introductory chapter. It was so good that I read it out loud to my wife. (She tolerates my fly fishing passion but doesn’t share it.) That chapter should be mandatory reading for all fly fishers. It tells of his first experience with fly fishing at age 15. In just 12 pages he summarizes what it means to be a true angler.
A major surprise for me was his strong endorsement of catch and release fishing. This was just 4 years after Lee Wulff wrote his famous line, “Game fish are too valuable to be caught only once.” Knight speaks out strongly about preserving our fisheries by practicing catch and release.
Like many other introductory books, there are chapters on buying rods, clothing, lines and leaders. Also chapters on flies: dry, wet, streamers and bass bugs. There are four color plates of flies.
Mr. Knight is best known for developing the theory of sun and moon effects on fishing, called the Solunar Theory. Many people still today use his theory for predicting fish activity. His book on Solunar Theory entitled, Moon Up - Moon Down: Story of the Solunar Theory explains the theory in detail.
Here are the final two paragraphs of Chapter 1, Angling Then and Now:
The older I grow, the less fun it is for me to kill. That’s the nice thing about fly fishing—you can always put them back. I can ask for no more delightful combination than a June day, a beautiful river, and a difficult fish with which to match my wits and what skill I possess. Trout that are easy to take soon grow tiresome. Surely, it is possible for fishing to be too good.
It is pleasant to know that the rank and file of the anglers are finding out that a game fish is too valuable a thing to be caught only once. More and more the costly lesson of conservation is being learned. I do not mean that every angler is not entitled to his fair share of trout, but eventually the beginner reaches the day when he finds his real pleasure in spending an hour or so in the taking of a difficult fish instead of leaving him and going on t the next, which may be more susceptible to his offerings. That day is graduation day. The beginner is no longer a novice fisherman. He has become an angler.
Book review by Rex Stahly
| Editor’s Note: This book is out of print and has not been reprinted. If you are interested in finding a copy of this book I would suggest that you check out the sellers of used angling books that are listed on the FAOL website. |