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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.
ITCHEN MEMORIES
First published in 1951, reprinted in 1984 by Andre’ Deutsch Limited, Copyright 1951 Estate of G.E.M. Skues, with an introduction by Antony Atha, forward by C.A.M. Skues and an artist’s foreword by Alex Jardine. ISBN: 0-233-97689-2, 128 Pages. Found through out of Print Book Dealers.
This year I set myself to reread all of the work’s concerning G.E.M. Skues, acknowledged as the father of Nymph Fishing. But Skues was much more than just an angler who developed the art of nymphing, he modernized the use of the wet fly, however many failed to note that fact and when the situation demanded fish dry flies.
It was Skues wish that this volume be published after his death and that was accomplished by his brother C.A.M. Skues in 1951. Itchen Memories is a delightful small volume which gives us a final look at Skues the angling writer and though this is not a pattern nor method book, within the pages are a wealth of information for the thinking angler to absorb and contemplate.
In this book Skues names certain sections of the Itchen that you may or may not be familiar with unless you have actually visited the stream, however this in no way detracts from the lessons he offers nor the pure enjoyment of the memories Skues offers in this small wonderful volume on his beloved Itchen.
The Tup’s Indispensable was a pattern that Skues mentions in both Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream, 1910 and Nymph Fishing for Chalk Stream Trout, 1939, Skues does an excellent job covering the Tup’s, giving the reader the inventor of the pattern and a bit of history of the Tup’s. Then tell us how he uses it and relates a very interesting story of a trout in a very difficult position to reach, yet Skues prime concern was in getting the cast to the trout and then he was calm enough to do what was necessary to be able to successfully play and land the trout.
Once you read the entire story you will embrace the lesson that Skues is offering to the angler. If you enjoy the writings and lessons of G.E.M. Skues then this is a must have publication.
Enjoy & Good Readin’
Tom Travis, Montana Fly Fishing Outfitter and Guide and a student of Fly Fishing.