Books, Stories, Authors?

[CarlRak]

Hey All,

Just curious as to whether anyone could recommend any collections of fishing stories and/or books or particular authors?

I quite enjoy reading both fiction and non-fiction, but I suppose what I’m after is something a little fleshier than your average fishing magazine article or chapter in a “how-to” book. The aforementioned are great but while explaining variations on technique or a new location pique my interest, they leave me wanting.

I’ve tried this question out at a few bookshops, both new and second-hand but in doing so I’m asking people that work in the book trade rather than fishermen. The usual responses I get are The Old Man and The Sea as well as The Life of Pi or a Tim Winton recommendation.

If anyone has any suggestions I’d love to investigate, doesn’t have to be recent, or Australian, just something to help the imagination along.

Cheers

Carl

[kurtisjohnthomas]

i really enjoyed this one

Call of the River, Philip Weigall

[kurtisjohnthomas]

Here is a review

As a prolific contributor to the pages of FlyLife, Philip Weigall needs no introduction to regular readers and as Steve Vizard says in his Foreword “Call of the River brims with good talk and engaging stories. It is not the same as going fishing with Philip, but it is close.”

Phil acknowledges that “Much of the inspiration for this book comes from time on the water with others.” And for me it’s the companionship, humour and passion in the stories that is far more important than the techniques, flies and locations –although for those looking for the ‘how and where’ each story holds good advice.

There are essays from Philip’s home rivers of Central Victoria and from places as diverse as Tasmania, New Zealand and Europe. Chapter headings such as: The High Snowys; The Back Country; Eucumbene; Midges; Mackenzie Country and The Creek, build expectations of the fishy tales to come.

The book is addictive, like the sport, and for those of us who like to read about the fly fishing exploits of others and measure our judgments and decision making against theirs, Call of the River is a welcome addition to the fly fishing library.

Other FlyLife connections include a spectacular cover shot by Bill Bachman and some evocative pencil illustrations by Trevor Hawkins.

Other one is Frog Call

Quite frankly I can’t picture Greg French sitting in a directors chair, wearing a felt beret, sipping champagne and reading excerpts from his new book Frog Call at some bloody tedious writers workshop. Slumped on a log, staring bleary eyed into the glowing embers of an illegal campfire, wearing a crumpled bush-hat, swigging from a bottle of cheap port and rambling on about some impossibly big fish, is more the Greg I know.

I don’t care if Dr Bob Brown reckons Frog Call is some sort of ‘brain food’ for green intellectuals. Greg French is one of us, and he writes dinkum guide books and gutsy fishing stories about where to go and what to use.

Earthy maybe, but profound? Literary thinker and gifted story teller? Mirth, passion and hope? Stories about fatherhood, relationships, love, matters of the heart and soul, and bigger universal themes? Mateship, trout fishing, nymphs, spinners and wild places . . . that’s more like it!

Being a mere fishing writer I am not qualified to pass judgement on this book even though my name has been taken in vain a number of times in its pages. Just because I like Frog Call so much doesn’t mean that you will, although I fear it may have universal appeal. Read it and judge for yourself. Here’s a little sample:

"When I was a teenager I photographed an unusually splendid panorama of the remote lake country. It overlooks my desk, watching like a Madonna. Mostly it is a source of solace but a pin-up is no substitute for a relationship and when I have neglected the bush for too long the image fills me with melancholy. I get frustrated that the air in this photo does not smell, that the sun can’t burn my skin, that the weather cannot suddenly turn bad and threaten me. I long for the totality of the bush, its exhilaration and unpredictability. I grab my fly rod and backpack and I’m gone."

[Hodgey]

These were very enjoyable:

Killers of Eden - Tom Mead

Ghosts of the Estuary - Sol Bannura

Cheers

Hodgey

[mii11x]

These were very enjoyable:

Killers of Eden - Tom Mead

Ghosts of the Estuary - Sol Bannura

Cheers

Hodgey

+1 for ghosts of the estuary. every time i read it i get a rush lol

[CarlRak]

Kurt, Hodgey and Mick, thanks for the recommendations and reviews. Looks like a nice selection on varied topics. Can’t wait to get into them.

[james7]

G'day Carl

Try these books. Sure some of the words are hard (I just sound them out), but the pictures really help.

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish (I Can Read It All by Myself) by Dr. Seuss

The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen and Dan Hanna

Memoirs of a Goldfish by Devin Scillian and Tim Bowers

Cheers

Peter

[CarlRak]

Peter, The Pout-Pout Fish, can't contain my enthusiasm.