This complete social and environmental history of America's first famous trout stream, the Beaverkill, fully revises and updates an out-of-print classic. Dan Rather wrote, "This gem of a book is an enlightening and entertaining masterpiece of Americana." The story of "America's stream" from before the eighteenth century to the present Portraits of the legendary fly fishers, fly tiers, and writers who lived by the river Contains completely new sections on 25 favorite flies and on fishing tips from the locals
Ed Van Put begins this important book with the history of native brook trout and offers little-known details about their sizes, range, and demise from over-fishing, the growth of streamside industries, and the introduction of competitive species. Sweeping in its scope, Trout Fishing in the Catskills tells a thorough tale of the often tumultuous history of fishing in the Catskills. With a scope of over a century, Van Put tells of the Catskill’s frontier fishing beginnings and tracks the rise, fall, and eventual revival of the fisheries. Throughout, this is a history of people and methods as well as rivers, and there are profiles of Theodore Gordon, Art Flick, Harry and Elsie Darbee, Sparse Grey Hackle, and more. No serious trout fisherman, in any part of the country, will want to miss this pioneering portrait of a seminal region in American angling history. Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for fishermen. Our books for anglers include titles that focus on fly fishing, bait fishing, fly-casting, spin casting, deep sea fishing, and surf fishing. Our books offer both practical advice on tackle, techniques, knots, and more, as well as lyrical prose on fishing for bass, trout, salmon, crappie, baitfish, catfish, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
The Catskills region of the eastern United States, just two hours northeast of New York City, was the birthplace of a uniquely American style of fly that continues to grace the bins of fly shops around the world. Mike Valla explores the essence of Catskill flies, delving into the history of the region's rivers, fly fishers, and fly tiers and blending their colorful histories with precise step-by-step tying methods. He compares the styles of all of the Catskill school of fly tiers and shares color photos of never-before-seen flies from the vaults of the Catskill Fly Fishing Museum as well as detailed tying steps for 11 Catskill-style fly patterns. This book is essential for those not only interested in learning to tie the Catskill-style flies, but also those interested in the history of American fly fishing.
Learn a broad range of techniques for dry flies, streamers, and wet flies by tying the modern flies that everyone is talking about. Author Tim Cammisa teaches you how to tie these simple but effective patterns and then how to take the techniques you’ve learned and use them for most of the other core patterns—old and new—that should be in your box. Includes information on the latest materials, tying tips from other tiers, and 16 patterns with recipes and complete step-by-step instructions.
Midge larvae and pupae, tiny parachutes, floating nymphs, micro scuds, tiny ants Choosing the right hook, thread, wire, and amount of weight for small flies plus 75 patterns, including Brassie, RS-2, Renegade, Gold-Ribbed Hare's Ear, Griffith's Gnat Foreword by John Gierach Taking trout on lightweight rods with flies as small as size 20 and 30 is a challenge. Learn to imitate midges' trailing shucks and drowned adults, tie tiny parachutes and white-winged Tricos, and create patterns that mimic microcaddis and micro scuds. Engle covers small-fly history, tying tools, and materials. Tips on fishing techniques come from Ed Engle's 30 years of experience fishing small flies on the South Platte River.
"The dry fly, the wet fly, and the nymph all enjoyed cherished places in an angler's bag of tricks; but all except the most opinionated will agree that streamer flies and bucktails; when properly selected and employed, hook more and bigger fish more often and in more places than any other type of fly rod lure." --Joseph D. Bates, Jr. Streamer Fly Tying and Fishing (1966) Streamers, and hair wing versions called bucktails, are versatile patterns that can be fished anywhere whether targeting landlocked salmon on a pristine Rangeley region Maine lake, largemouth bass swimming among the lily pads in a tepid southern farm pond, cutthroat trout inhabiting swift, western rivers or hypercritical browns in the Catskills. In this valuable reference for tiers and anglers alike, author Mike Valla collects here for the reader his favorite classics that are not only important from a historical perspective, but also work well to this day. 100 favorite patterns including Allie's Favorite Bleeding Shiner Brooks's Honey Blonde Bumblepuppy Chief Needahbeh Colonel Bates Edson Tiger-Dark Fox's Yellow Optic Bucktail General MacArthur Goober Jane Craig Missoulian Spook Nine-Three Parma Belle Shushan Postmaster Spruce Supervisor Thunder Creek Silver Shiner Warden's Worry
Fly Fishing for Trout is one of the finest fly-fishing primers ever written!It treats every aspect of the sport needed to bring the reader to the level of highly competent fly rodding - choice of tackle, rigging up, beginning and essential casts, knot tying, approach, fly selection, and basic entomology. Its step-by-step instructions, more than 200 drawings and photographs (including a full four-color section), and pervasive wit and good sense make learning painless and lots of fun. (8 1/2 X 11, 300 pages, color photos, b&w photos, illustrations, diagrams, charts)
This is the moving story of a man who selflessly devoted his life to the liberation and betterment of others during a tumultuous time in U.S. history, with his equally determined wife at his side. A son of the famous Beecher family, James Beecher sacrificed a life of privilege to serve as missionary, soldier, preacher, and humanitarian. From early ordeals in China to an astoundingly courageous career as Colonel of an all-black regiment of freed slaves in the Civil War, this book follows Beecher through unimaginable horrors, post-war turmoil, and the spiritual salvation he sought as an early pioneer & fisherman in the wilds of the Beaverkill Valley after the war. Through painstaking research, this is an inspiring, intimate look at a remarkably unknown figure who played a key role in American history and risked everything for his conviction of equality and morality.
