Books for the fisherman

As the creeks blow out during this wet and warm fall we have been having, the lakes become too cold for top water, and the rivers run high as can be, my main fishing season slowly comes to a stall. A stall but not a stop.

My snowshoes will take me to many of the deep pools in the creeks that I love this winter, my manual auger will punch holes in Solomon Lake, and I will still spend time hoping that the swing of the wet fly down on the river by my house just may intrigue a trout to come up to the cold air outside.

But winter is also not a time where life slows down. There is entertaining the four and a half year old son of mine, holiday meals (with lefse, of course) to make, snow to be shoveled (maybe), fly boxes to be filled by whatever I come up with out of my collection of fly tying material, writing to be done, and most of all, reading and re-reading all of my favorite books (which during this time of year end up being fly fishing books) while cozied up in the living room with a fresh pot of coffee.

I know I have a lot of readers who are not fly fishers in the least bit, but that should not turn them off from reading many of the fly fishing books out there. There are quite a few books about fishing of all kinds that are about just that: fishing. However, why I very much enjoy the extensive library of fly fishing books that I have acquired, read, and read again and again throughout my years is that they aren’t just about fishing. While on the surface, that is objectively what they are about, they tend to err on the side of natural philosophy like a book from Annie Dillard or Edward Abbey does.

If you have been reading my articles for a while, I am sure you have picked up that when I am out on the water, it isn’t necessarily about catching the fish for me but more so about being in nature and finding out more about myself than I could ever do by sitting in front of a screen.

We are but natural beings after all, and I believe that our subconscious absolutely draws us to nature itself, whether by personal will or by divine intervention if you believe in that type of thing.

I thought for a bit about what I wanted to talk about this week as I have been a bit of a homebody for a few days, and as I looked up from my typewriter while working on another project, I stared at my shelf packed tightly with numerous fly fishing books like a deer on a dark highway slowly being illuminated by a Mack truck.

Gierach followed by Lyons followed by LaFountaine, Middleton to Skues to Soos.

The stars are all there, and I thought I would throw out a couple of suggestions. So here are a few books I recommend for the outdoorsman, the fisherman, or even for the average Joe who has an interest in what goes on in our forests and waters such as the ones that surround us in our beautiful northern tip of a great state.

First off, I would highly suggest any book by John Gierach. The original “trout bum,” Gierach had written 22 books stemming from the 1980s until his death in 2024. A good mix of humor, experience and personal philosophy fills each and every book of his. Some of his stories make me think of one of our local great outdoor writers, Patrick McManus, while others nearly read like a modern day philosopher who many will find decades after his death and say to themselves, “I wish I had read this earlier.”

He rubbed elbows, fished and was good friends with many of the recent legends of fly fishing such as AK Best and Ed Engle, and every single book of his is worth your time. If I had to recommend one, it would be impossible, so I will provide two.

For his stories and personal reflections, I quite enjoyed his most recent, All The Time in the World, which does include a chapter on the Kootenai River which should interest some of the locals here. For the other recommendation, that would have to be one of his more serious books on technique and skills called Fly Fishing Small Streams, which as someone who mainly fishes small streams up in this neck of the woods, there are a lot of good explanations and strategies that Gierach talks about while still coating it in his humorous and wonderful writing style.

For my second recommendation, the book Father’s Day Creek: Fly Fishing, Fatherhood, and the Last Best Place on Earth by Dan Rodricks is an easy pick. Dan Rodricks was a columnist for the Baltimore Sun (where he worked alongside fly fishing legend Lefty Kreh), hosted numerous shows on the radio, and currently works as a playwright while also writing for the Baltimore Brew and the Baltimore Fishbowl.

He also writes a very excellent blog at danrodricks.com where you can find posts about politics, food, fishing, historical Baltimore legends and little slices of life.

The main story of the book takes place on a Father’s Day morning on a strip of river that Dan calls Father’s Day creek, or the last best place on Earth: a “spirit-home” away from all the rip-roaring of city life where no one else is around (most the time) but him, the fish, the trees and birds and his fly rod. Throughout the book, Rodricks recounts stories of his childhood, stories on this creek with his children and other family and everything else over the course of more than 50 years. It is a yearly read for me, and every time I read it, I become closer to Dan Rodricks than the last as I find more in common with him as I age and hunt for my own Father’s Day creek.

This makes a nice segue to my next choice on the list: Bright Rivers: Celebrations of Rivers and Fly Fishing by the great Nick Lyons. Yes, the Nick Lyons of Lyons Press, one of the best literary imprints, and husband to (in my humble opinion) one of the best modernist painters in the last hundred years, Mari Blumeau Lyons.

A legend in not only the literary world but the fly fishing world, Lyons brings with him a life experience that is sort of like Dan Rodricks as they are both living in cities and wishing to be outside of them in the quiet calm of the great outdoors.

In Bright Rivers, Lyons writes of fly fishing adventures in New York state to Montana with a precision to his craft reserved only for the masters. Each chapter is full of humor, life lessons, recollection, and with some, an occasional bite of nostalgia and homesickness to what once was. Reading more like great literature, Lyons also incorporates a lot of the greats in his writing, exposing the world to his influences on his life and art that he wears on his sleeves such as Hemingway, Cezanne and, of course, Thoreau. With this book, and another great one from him called Spring Creek, Lyons demonstrates that there has never been a better author for writing about not catching fish (though he does catch a lot).

My final recommendation might just be the most recognizable on the list for most readers of my column due to the author, a Mister Thomas McGuane, author of such great novels as Ninety-Two in the Shade, Nothing But Blue Skies, The Bushwhacked Piano and numerous others. His essay collection from 2000,The Longest Silence is easily one of the greatest books I have ever read. It is a book that had one of my favorite authors, Jim Harrison, stating that “Thomas McGuane writes about fishing better than anyone else in the history of mankind.”

It is a book I have lent out to many people, not received back so I have to buy another copy because I just have to read it again (In my picture of the collected books for this column piece, you can tell it is missing. This is because my good friend Andrew Galloway still has my most recent copy).

While the books I have mentioned so far typically stay in our country on trout water, McGuane goes worldwide to write about tarpon in Florida to salmon in Iceland to bonefish in Mexico, along with some stories about the great Montana trout as well. There are history lessons throughout, nods to the legends of literature and the outdoors, and plenty of humor and reverence to be had.

These are the easy choices for me and I didn’t even touch on the other favorites in my collection from Russell Chatham, Harry Middleton, Paul Schullery, Tim Schulz, and the list goes on and on. Surprisingly, I didn’t even mention the ultimate classic A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean (until now, I guess).

With Christmas coming up, a book makes a pretty good stocking stuffer, and I am sure the outdoorsman in your life would enjoy even just one of these books. It is that time of year where it begins to make more sense to sit in a favorite chair and crack open a book, reading about the adventures you could have in the springtime that is just around the corner.

Tight lines out there, friends.

I don’t mean to come off as I am trying to sell you a book, but as many of you know, I work for Bonners Books and we carry some of these books. If you are looking at picking one up, we may have it in stock or we could easily order a copy or two for you. As you should always support the local fly shop in the area you are fishing, it is also a great idea to support other local businesses as well. ~ James