Reviewed by Deanna Birkholm
Well, it isn't your dad's fly fishing book. Or uncles either.
But I will gladly recommend it for your reading. Here's two guys,
old friends who have made the decision not to fish where the crowds
are, or where the fishing might be easy or even predictable.
It isn't that they haven't fished for trout in all the right places,
(well at least some of them) it's that they can't get there from
where they are. The co-authors, Christopher Arelt and Sebastian
O'Kelly are east coast guys with a desire to catch what they can,
where they can. Sometimes the 'getting there' is half the story.
Sometimes it's catching 'things' which most respectable fly fishermen
wouldn't even consider. On the other hand it lets them maintain
what they have left of their sanity. Reading it might help you
maintain yours as well.
Be that as it may, the book is well written, illustrated with
crude sketches which strangely, get the point across. Offbeat
applies here.
They take a few road trips, get scratched and bruised for
their efforts, and even manage to catch tarpon in
non-recommended places. There is one 'story' which
just has to be fiction. You'll find it.
Quoting from the 'sell-sheet:'
"Something fishy is going on, and these two will stop at
nothing to cast their flies in big city ponds, polluted
canals, highway ditches, nuclear power plant outflows,
and other spots where man and beast dare not tread. No
technique is off-limits, no species too unusual, as they
do battle with carp, shad, bowfin, tarpon and exotic rejects
from the local aquarium. Besides some astounding catches,
you'll bear witness to a boatload of antics and miscues,
meet a host of colorful characters, and wince at an ample
creelful of bad fishing puns."
If cabin fever, or the more serious form, the shack nasties,
have you in their grip, get The Offbeat Angler. It
will help.
The Offbeat Angler
By Christopher Arelt and Sebastian O'Kelly,
Published by the Flat Hammock Press
5 Church Street
Mystic, Connecticut, 06355
USA
Dimensions: 6.25" X 9.25"
Hardcover, 160 pages
110 sketch drawings
ISBN: 0-9718303-5-5
Price: $18.85
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