Books on Fly Fishing and "the great outdoors"
How it all started
Vissen... Vliegen... Vangen...
The very first flyfishing book I got my hands on was a Dutch book titled “Vissen, Vliegen, Vangen“, (which translates to: Fish, Flies, Catching) written by Dutch fishing journalist (the only official fishing journalist ever in The Netherlands) Kees Ketting and well know Amsterdam shopkeeper Henk Peeters. Both have crossed the river Styx now. Published in 1970 I believe I discovered it in our local library around 1972. I was only 8 years old then and already mad about fishing with spinners for pike and perch.
I was hooked and my brother, Remko van den Berg, a keen coarse fisherman (and great artist), told me I was crazy. Anyway, to keep a long story short: I HAD to have some fly fishing tackle and by crazy coincidence my uncle Ad Baaijens, who lived in Calgary / Canada visited us the next year and gave me not only a fly fishing “starter kit” (a heavy glassfiber rod, a reel and a fly line) but also a fly tying book titled “Western Trout Fly Tying Manual” written by Jack Dennis. Although I learned to tie quite a few patterns from that book, the pattern which intrigued me most was the Humpy.
Now, about 50 years later, the Humpy is still one of my favourite dry flies for small stream fishing for brown trout. I find it a rather difficult pattern to get right though. I still have that very book, and here’s a photo of the wrinkled cover. The inside is rather eaten by bloody silver fish, the biggest enemy of book collectors!
Those 2 books kick-started my fly fishing “career” and my love for fly fishing and fly tying books.
My book collection
Here are 3 photographs of (the largest part) my personal book collection. I haven’t counted them. It’s not about numbers anyway. It’s about how -and where- I acquired them and how I value them as books to read. Most of them again and again.
I am a sucker for vintage writing. Mainly English books published between 1910 and 1950. I have a extra soft spot for the books written by G.E.M. Skues and have spent quite some efforts (and money) to get my hands on some First Editions.
Later on in life I managed to add some early editons of the books written by F.M. Halford but his writing style is no match for Skues. (I find him rather dogmatic and with a “dry” writing style.)
Anyway, there are many, many other writers -and books- I would like to tell you more about. I will work on that. Promise.
You can click on the images to enlarge the photographs and “explore” them for yourself. Although it won’t be that easy to figure it out I guess. Have fun exploring.
O, the second photo also reveils a part of my reel collection. Both fly reels and vintage spinning reels. Again, I am a sucker for vintage and classic stuff. Like Orvis CFO reels and of course the unique reels created by my late friend Bo Mohlin. I have too many fishing related addictions.
So, on this page I will also share my personal view on some of those books and, as you might have noticed, I have already started with “Bright Rivers” written by Nick Lyons. (Below)
I aim to add more “reviews” soon.
Bright Rivers by Nick Lyons
Sometimes, when a friend asks me; “what’s your favourite book about fly fishing ?”, most of the times I have to leave it unanswered because there are quite a few good books available and making a single choice isn’t easy. However, I do have some books which are very special to me and if I have selected one right now. I have two little books written by the American author Nick Lyons (both are little jewels !) and this time I put the spotlight on “Bright Rivers“.
Years and years ago (I guess it was around 1988) I visited the Fly Tackle Dealer Show in Denver, Colorado, and suddenly I was eye to eye with a “short”, friendly looking man who asked me for a light since he had an unlit cigar in his hand. Before we knew it we were having a good conversation, maybe because I have a weakness for cigars as well (However, Nick Lyons gave up smoking a couple of years ago.)
“You’re Nick Lyons ?, wow, I love reading your articles in Fly fisherman! As a matter of fact, it’s the first thing I read when I get my new issue.” Nick was quite surprised to find an European reading his stuff which such “gusto” and he invited me to his booth (he’s a publisher if you didn’t know it already), buried me with books he didn’t write but which (according to him) I must have read and last but not least he gave me a copy of Bright Rivers and added a nice personal note in the front. I was in seventh heaven!
On my way home I must have read the paperback at least three times, from front to back and from back to front…what a wonderful, delicious little gem of a book. And now, years and years later, I still get it out of my bookcase every now and then to read one or two chapters. Nick Lyons understands very well what fly fishing is about and doesn’t write only about fish and fishing. In his books, it rains a lot and quite often, his leader breaks or gets terribly tangled up and his waders fill up with cold water at great intervals. Next to that his conscience is fighting between “fishing” and “marriage” and he looks through a very sharp pair of glasses when he’s looking at City life. (We’re talking about New York which isn’t “just” a city…..hence the capital C)
My personal conclusion; “Bright Rivers” is a book which you shouldn’t be without, it’s a little gem, full of humour, knowledge and touching moments.