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Fly Fishing Books Barry Ord Clarke recommendation
- Thread starter coha
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Classics all of them! Gierach, Falkus and K -More are perhaps obvious choices, but I'm delighted to see Niall in there - one of my very favourite authors, all of his books are excellent in his inimitable way. I don't have a copy of Fly Rodding Estuaries but I have read a friends copy. Where did you find yours please?
John Aston
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I'm sure I'm not alone in having nearly all of those , and many more. The only one I don't care much for, and even less for the author, is Falkus. I found his books hectoring and dogmatic and anecdotes from friends who'd met him didn't help my estimation of the man . Of living authors, Gierach is pre-eminent , and I think Trout Bum is one of the best written, and certainly the most entertaining book ever written on the sport. I write myself , and reading Gierach can make me weep with sheer envy sometimes .
Lord Grey of Fallodon, Plunket Greene and Haigh Brown are all magnificent, if from a very different era , and I think it is a great shame that Chris Yates confines himself to coarse angling (which I practise , but not exclusively) as he writes from the heart , and in an exquisite style .
Best known for their other work , of course , but Arthur Ransome and Hemingway are both every bit as good as one would expect. I will also mention one little known gem , and that is Thy Rod and Thy Creel by Odell Shepherd, which is essentially about the philosophy of our sport .
Again , not fly fishing , but Somewhere Down the Crazy River, by Paul Boote and Jeremy Wade(a long time before he was that bloke off the telly ) is a wonderful read . I have just discovered that even my paperback is worth 100 quid plus now.
Lord Grey of Fallodon, Plunket Greene and Haigh Brown are all magnificent, if from a very different era , and I think it is a great shame that Chris Yates confines himself to coarse angling (which I practise , but not exclusively) as he writes from the heart , and in an exquisite style .
Best known for their other work , of course , but Arthur Ransome and Hemingway are both every bit as good as one would expect. I will also mention one little known gem , and that is Thy Rod and Thy Creel by Odell Shepherd, which is essentially about the philosophy of our sport .
Again , not fly fishing , but Somewhere Down the Crazy River, by Paul Boote and Jeremy Wade(a long time before he was that bloke off the telly ) is a wonderful read . I have just discovered that even my paperback is worth 100 quid plus now.
Aknib
Well-known member
I sometimes wish I could get absorbed in a good book but can't and never have been able to despite numerous attempts,
My angling library is accordingly limited and even then I tend to stick to the pictures (!!!) although I have heard of a few names which you mention including the less likely Arthur Ransome and Paul Boote used to be a frequent poster on this very forum.
I did recently enjoy Match Fishing with Benny Ashurst and am currently marvelling over the endless illustrations in a 1961 copy of The Fishes of the British Isles both Freshwater and Salt.
I know, I know...
There's just no helping some people
My angling library is accordingly limited and even then I tend to stick to the pictures (!!!) although I have heard of a few names which you mention including the less likely Arthur Ransome and Paul Boote used to be a frequent poster on this very forum.
I did recently enjoy Match Fishing with Benny Ashurst and am currently marvelling over the endless illustrations in a 1961 copy of The Fishes of the British Isles both Freshwater and Salt.
I know, I know...
There's just no helping some people
Keith M
Well-known member
I only have one dedicated fly fishing book and three or four sea Angling books however I’ve only really read a few chapters of these and I can’t even remember most of the authors, although two of these books have multiple authors which included anglers such as Clive Gammon and a guy who’s writing I used to thoroughly enjoy; Ian Gillespie.
However I’ve read every one of my 93 coarse Angling books from cover to cover and I’ve read a lot of them more than once.
I know some people have twice as many fishing books than me and even more and I bet there’s a few of these guys on Fishing Magic.
The books I have were published from 1893 up to last year although I do have three different copies of Isaac Walton’s (and Charles Cottons) The Compleat Angler but that’s the second most published book in our language, second only to the bible I’ve been told; and whether this is true or not I don’t know.
I have six or seven books that were written by one of our new Angling celebrities on Fishing Magic John Bailey; and I’ve enjoyed reading every one of them. I also have a couple of our Fishing Magic member Cliff Hatton’s fishing cartoon books too.
I’ve got loads of other interesting Angling books that have either been written or partly written by well known anglers like Richard Walker, Frank Guttfield, Fred J Taylor, Peter Stone, Fred Buller, Barry Richards & Ray Webb, Chris Yates, Kevin Maddocks, Rod Hutchinson, Bob Nudd, Billy Lane, John Wilson, BB (Denys Watkins-Pitchford), Jim Gibbinson, Dave Coster, F.W.K. Wallis etc. etc. etc. and the list goes on; right up to my newest book which was bought for me by my nephew last year; the Mortimer & Whitehouse Gone Fishing book which is just a bit of fun and not really a true Angling book.
I can thoroughly recommend getting a couple of decent Angling books to read, especially now when it’s freezing cold outside and the fishing is a tad dire and we have this virus stopping us from going outside as often as we’d like, and there’s only continuous repeats on our TVs.
Keith
However I’ve read every one of my 93 coarse Angling books from cover to cover and I’ve read a lot of them more than once.
I know some people have twice as many fishing books than me and even more and I bet there’s a few of these guys on Fishing Magic.
The books I have were published from 1893 up to last year although I do have three different copies of Isaac Walton’s (and Charles Cottons) The Compleat Angler but that’s the second most published book in our language, second only to the bible I’ve been told; and whether this is true or not I don’t know.
I have six or seven books that were written by one of our new Angling celebrities on Fishing Magic John Bailey; and I’ve enjoyed reading every one of them. I also have a couple of our Fishing Magic member Cliff Hatton’s fishing cartoon books too.
I’ve got loads of other interesting Angling books that have either been written or partly written by well known anglers like Richard Walker, Frank Guttfield, Fred J Taylor, Peter Stone, Fred Buller, Barry Richards & Ray Webb, Chris Yates, Kevin Maddocks, Rod Hutchinson, Bob Nudd, Billy Lane, John Wilson, BB (Denys Watkins-Pitchford), Jim Gibbinson, Dave Coster, F.W.K. Wallis etc. etc. etc. and the list goes on; right up to my newest book which was bought for me by my nephew last year; the Mortimer & Whitehouse Gone Fishing book which is just a bit of fun and not really a true Angling book.
I can thoroughly recommend getting a couple of decent Angling books to read, especially now when it’s freezing cold outside and the fishing is a tad dire and we have this virus stopping us from going outside as often as we’d like, and there’s only continuous repeats on our TVs.
Keith
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