Nick Lyons - The Best Fishing Stories Ever Told

A ll the excerpts used in this book are used by permission of the author, the authors estate, or by statute unless otherwise noted.

Where works have been reprinted recently, the last known edition is indicated for the readers benefit.

The Primitive Fish-Hook by Barnet Phillips. From The Century . lianThe Macedonian Invention, or the First Mention of an Artificial Fly by William Radcliffe. From Fishing from the Earliest Times (Ares Publishers Inc., 1974). The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton. From The Compleat Angler: Or, The Contemplative Mans Recreation (Modern Library, 1998.) Trout: Meeting Them on the June Rise by Nessmuk. From Fishing with a Fly , eds. Charles F. Orvis and A. Nelson Cheney (Book Sales, 1990). Trouting Along the Catasauqua by Frank Forester. From Frank Foresters Fugitive Sporting Sketches . The Boy and the Angle by Rowland E. Robinson. From Silver Fields and Other Sketches of a Farmer-Sportsman (Houghton Mifflin Company). Some Memories of Early Days by Lord Grey of Falloden. From Fly Fishing (The Lyons Press, 1985). Fishing with My Daddy by Jimmy Carter. From An Outdoor Journal (University of Arkansas Press, 1988). The River God by Roland Pertwee. From The Saturday Evening Post (July 7, 1928). Theyre in the River by John McPhee. From The Founding Fish (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2002). The Black Bass as a Game Fish by James A. Henshall. From Book of the Black Bass (Kensinger Publishing, 2006). Red, White, and Bluegill by Ted Leeson. From Field & Stream (July 2004). Sacred Eels by James Prosek. The Lunge by Stewart Edward White. From The Forest (Kensinger Publishing, 2005). Carp Fishing by Frank Forester. From Frank Foresters Fish and Fishing of the United States, and British Provinces of North America by Frank Forester (Arno Publishing, 1970). Bow-fin Fishing in the South Slang by Rowland E. Robinson. From Thomas H. Chubbs Catalogue of Anglers Supplies . A Big Muskellunge by W. N. Hull. From Fishing Across the Continent by W. N. Hull (A. Flanagan Co., 1905). The Shanty by Jerry Gibbs. Fishing in the Ohio, John James Audubon. From Delineations of American Scenery and Character (Kensinger Publishing, 2006). The Angler and the Weakfish by Charles Bradford. From The Anglers Secret (G. P. Putmans Sons, 1904). Sharks on the Shell Bars by Vereen Bell. From Outdoor Life Anthology of Fishing Adventures: The Worlds Best Stories of Fishing Adventures (Popular Science Publishing Co., Inc., 1945). The Saga of the Yellowfin by Mark Sosin. Keeping Busy When Not on the Casting Deck by Lefty Kreh. The Tarpon of Turners River by A. W. Dimock. From The Book of the Tarpon (Meadow Run Press, 2004). The Island by Margot Page. From Little Rivers (The Lyons Press, 1995). Trailing the Sea-Bat by Charles Frederick Holder. From The Outing Magazine (April 1900). Byme-by-Tarpon by Zane Grey. From Tales of Fishes (Amereon Limited, 1976). Skeltons Party (selection) by Thomas McGuane. From The Armchair Angler (Galahad Books, 1996). The Lakes at Inhluzane by Tom Sutcliffe. From Hunting Trout (2003). 2000 Words of Heartfelt Advice by Verlyn Klinkenborg. First of April by William Senior. From Near and Far (Sampson Low, Marston, & Co. 1888). The Evolution of a Flyfisher by Joan Salvato Wulff. A Bit of Luck by Harry Plunket-Greene. From Where the Bright Waters Meet (Excellent Press, 2006). Fishing with a Worm by Bliss Perry. From Fishing With a Worm (Houghton Mifflin, 1916). The Value of Observation by George M. LaBranche. From The Dry Fly and Fast Water (Greycliffe Publishing, 1998). Two Old Trout of the Pools, and the Little Dry-Fly that Finally Accomplished Their Ruin by Emlyn M. Gill. From Practical Dry-Fly Fishing (Easton Press, 1996). The Finest Trout in the World by Harry Plunket-Greene. From Where the Bright Waters Meet (Excellent Press, 2006). Nothing Fishy About Trout by Dave Barry. From The Miami Herald (September 19, 2004). In Praise of TroutAnd Also Me by Paul ONeil. Copyright 1964 by Life Inc. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. The Miramichi it aint, so all right, its 116th St. by John Bryan. From Sports Illustrated (October 17, 1977). Memories of Mahseer by P. R. Bairnsfather. From A Book of Fishing Stories , ed. F. G. Aflalo (Dent & Sons, Ltd., 1913). The One That Got Away (selection) by Howell Raines. From The One That Got Away: A Memoir (Scribner, 2006). The Man Who Lived Two Lives in One: Zane Grey by Robert H. Boyle. From Sports Illustrated (April 29, 1960). The Angler by Washington Irving. From Roger Caras Treasury of Great Fishing Stories (Galahad Books, 1999). What and Who Is an Angler? by Thaddeus Norris. From The Armchair Angler , eds. Terry Brykcyznski and David Reuther (BBS Publishing Corporation, 1994). A Painter, an Angler, and Some Others by William Scrope. From Days and Nights of Salmon Fishing in the Tweed (The Mercat Press, 1975). Fishing by Reverend Thomas Bastard (1498). Crazy for Rivers (selection) by Bill Barich (The Lyons Press, 1999). A River Runs Through It (selection) by Norman Maclean (University of Chicago Press, 1976). On Norman Maclean by John Maclean (from Fly Rod & Reel , 1990). A Single Step by George Reiger. From The Washington Post . The Even-Tempered Angler (selection) by Louis Rubin (Winchester Press, 1983). Whats in a Name? by Howard Frank Mosher. The Solitary and Friendly Sport by R. Palmer Baker Jr. From The Armchair Angler , eds. Terry Brykcyznski and David Reuther (BBS Publishing Corporation, 1994). Midstream Crisis by Lamar Underwood. From Editors in the Stream (Halo Books, 1992). Blue Dun by Frank Mele. From Small in the Eye of a River (Paul Pursell, 1988). Storytelling on the Thames by Jerome K. Jerome. From Three Men in a Boat (Viking, 1978). Ol Settler of Deep Hole by Irving Bacheller. From Eben Holden: A Tale of the North Country (Dodo Press, 2006). The Lucy Coffin by W.D. Wetherell. A Fatal Salmon, Frank Forester. From A Creelful of Fishing Stories: A Pastime Book , ed. Henry van Dyke (Charles Scribners Sons, 1932). A Gallant Poacher by John Buchan. From John Mcnab (The Houghton Mifflin Company, 1925). Brannigans Trout by Nick Lyons. From Full Creel (Grove Atlantic, 2001). A Fatal Success by Henry van Dyke. From Fishermans Luck ( Indypublish.com , 2002). On Dry-Cow Fishing as a Fine Art by Rudyard Kipling. From The Fishing Gazette (December 1890). The Hole by Guy de Maupassant. From Selected Short Stories (Penguin, 1987). The Lady or the Salmon? by Andrew Lang. From Angling Sketches (Kensing Publishing, 2006). Fish Are Such Liars! (selection) by Roland Pertwee. From Fish are Such Liars! (Livingston Publishers, 1972). A Wedding Gift by John Taintor Foote. From A Wedding Gift (The Lyons Press, 1992). Mr. Theodore Castwell by G. E. M. Skues. From Side-Lines, Side-Lights & Reflections (Seeley Service & Co., Ltd., 1932).

THE PRIMITIVE FISH-HOOK

BARNET PHILLIPS

I have before me an illustrated catalogue of modern fish-hooks and angling implements, and in looking over its pages I find an embarrass de choix . I have no need for rods, for mine, like well-kept violins, have rather improved by age. A lashing may be frayed, or a ferrule loose, but fifteen minutes pleasant work will make my rods all right again. Lines are sound, for I have carefully stretched them after use. But my hooks! They are certainly the worse for wear. I began my seasons fishing with a meager stock. Friends borrowed from me, and in replenishing my fly-book in an out-of-the-way place, the purchase was unsatisfactory. As I lost more than one fish from badly tempered or worse fashioned hooks, I recalled a delightful paper by Mr. Froude. Rod in hand, he was whipping some pleasant trout stream, near an historic site, the home of the Russells, and, breaking his hooks, commenced from that very moment to indulge in the gloomiest forebodings as to the future of England.