OLD BOOKS -- REFERENCES?

[sauerkraut]

  It's Winter.  I gather some, or many of us read because we can't fish much.  So, we read, and sometimes reread:  DZ, Skinner, Gribbs, Daignault, Mueller, Audet, etc.

 

 I was looking through some of my library of "contemporary" authors and books, and happened to notice that skinny brown book, STRIPED BASS - Rodman, (next to Dick Russell's Striper Wars in the pic).  Copyright 1944, and probably years before our more well known writers.  This got me digging deeper into my library--  and curious:

1.  What may be in your library?

2.  What may have you read-- or reread?

3  What may you have learned-- or relearned?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sauerkraut]

OLD REFERENCES cont'd:

[sauerkraut]

OLD REFERENCES cont'd.  

[MainelySmallies]

Fun topic. Interested to see what people are reading. Right now in terms of fishing-content I have on the bedside table that new book Seasons of the Striper (mainly for the cool photos) and DZ’s new book. I’m also just starting Willard Bascom’s “Waves and Beaches” which is a book about wave dynamics popular with surfers. Hoping I learn a thing or two that’s useful for fishing. 

[sauerkraut]

I was flipping through that FISHERMAN'S DIGEST, (First Annual edition),

Edited by Tom McNally:  And the first article was Spoonplugging, by Buck Perry.  Who ever heard of this technique in this era?  Maybe there is something here for a savvy LMB/SMB bass fisherman to learn or relearn.  Or maybe not--  Perry needed a search system in his day.  Now you can just cruise around with sonar, I guess.

[JerseyJeb]

There are so many good out of print books on fishing, I will pick up pretty much anything from the used book store.

[DZ]

56 mins ago, sauerkraut said:

I was flipping through that FISHERMAN'S DIGEST, (First Annual edition),

Edited by Tom McNally:  And the first article was Spoonplugging, by Buck Perry.  Who ever heard of this technique in this era?  Maybe there is something here for a savvy LMB/SMB bass fisherman to learn or relearn.  Or maybe not--  Perry needed a search system in his day.  Now you can just cruise around with sonar, I guess.

Here is a good one from 1966. My parents gave it to me as a Christmas gift in the 1970s. 
Grits Gresham on sweet water bass. 

[surfcaster1]

.

Edited January 20 by surfcaster1
Correction

[thinice]

My wife gifted me “Surfcaster’s Quest” by Roy Rowan. Quite enjoyable. 

[Rob A]

I just finished "On the run" by Dibenedetto.  Great book.  Read it through in one sitting.

[CWitek]

One of the things that I like about the old books is that they provide a sense of perspective, on a number of different issues.

 

For example, I have a number of books written by authors including Zane Gray, S. Kip Farrington, and Van Campen Heilner, which focus on offshore fishing, although they address some inshore fisheries as well.  The abundance of fish in those days was startling.  Sight-fishing for swordfish within not too many miles of Montauk and the South Fork of Long Island.  Giant bluefin tuna trashing the gear of the bluefish fleet off Barnegat Ridge, NJ.  What's also notable are the fish that aren't mentioned, at least with respect to the northeast.  No bigeye tuna, yellowfin, longfin albacore, wahoo, blue marlin.  Down south, yes, plenty of mentions.  But not in our part of the world, because the 15-knot wooden boats of the era didn't get far enough offshore to find them.

 

The notion of sportsmanship is also far more developed.  No handing off rods, no fighting a fish from a rod holder, no electric reels.  No selling one's catch. Anyone carrying a harpoon on a supposedly recreational boat wasn't considered decent company.

 

The advice is also solid, and I generally prefer it to what we see today.  Too often, modern wriging is very gear-oriented, talking about particular model rods (is the author, perhaps, performing his duties as "pro staff" for a manufacturer?) and other gear, while the older books focused more on the fish themselves, and how to draw a strike.  In salt water, Frank Mundus' Sportfishing for Sharks is still the bible; I've been shark fishing for nearly 50 years, and couldn't materially improve on its content (although it's tough to get ground-up pilot whale chum these days).  The Lyman/Woolner books on striped bass, bluefish, and weakfish. 

 

In freshwater, if you fly fish for trout, Ray Ovington's Tactics on Trout is the perfect primer.  Jason Lucas' Lucas on Bass Fishing teaches you to think about how to choose and fish lures under various conditions, without the aid of electronics.  Add the electronics and some lures that didn't exist when the book was written to the principles in the book, and successful freshwater bass fishing becomes less daunting.  If you're a more generalized freshwater fisherman, chasing bass, walleye, pike, etc., there are few better primers than Lunikers Love Nightcrawlers (sitting here, I don't recall the author, but it might have been one of the Lindners) that emphasizes not the title bait (although the best ways to maximize bait's effectiveness on northern lakes is certainly a part of the narrative), but how to find and fish structure, techniques such as backtrolling, etc.

 

You also learn that there are few things new under the sun.  Over the last few years, some people have seemed surprised that some bass spend the entire winters off northeastern shores, yet in Jerry Sylvester's Surfcasting, you learn of anglers fishing sandworms for bass in the February surf off the Rhode Island coast (and catching winter flounder as they do so).  Joe Brooks' Salt Water Fly Fishing thoroughly discusses a subject that many people think of as relatively modern, but yes, you can catch tarpon on a 9-foot split bamboo rod designed to catch a GAAF line.

 

What I like about the old books is that they connect you now only with an early generation of anglers, but with the fish themselves.  Less emphasis on name-brand equipment (perhaps with the exception of lures), as gear is usually described generically, not by brand and model number.  Little or no mention of electronics, although depthfinders appear in some of the newer old volumes.  But when the high-tech gear wasn't available, anglers had to learn how to depend on knowledge and technique to catch.  We can still learn from that today.

[sauerkraut]

6 hours ago, CWitek said:

**One of the things that I like about the old books is that they provide a sense of perspective, on a number of different issues.

 

1.  For example, I have a number of books written by authors including Zane Gray, S. Kip Farrington, and Van Campen Heilner

2.  In salt water, Frank Mundus' Sportfishing for Sharks is still the bible; I've been shark fishing for nearly 50 years, and couldn't materially  .  3.  The Lyman/Woolner books on striped bass, bluefish, and weakfish. 

 

4.  In freshwater, if you fly fish for trout, Ray Ovington's Tactics on Trout is the perfect primer.  Jason Lucas' Lucas on Bass Fishing  , I don't 5.  recall the author, but it might have been one of the Lindners) that emphasizes not the title bait

 6.  Jerry Sylvester's Surfcasting, you learn of anglers fishing sandworms for bass in the February surf off the Rhode Island coast (and  

7.  Joe Brooks' Salt Water Fly Fishing thoroughly discusses a subject that many people think of as relatively modern, but yes, you can catch         tarpon on a 9-foot split bamboo rod designed to catch a GAAF line.

 

**We can still learn from that today.

Not only is Mr. CWitek well read, but introspective.

LMB writerJason Lucas !!  Wow.  My grammar school hero from Sports Afield magazine.

Bonds

[klisagar]

So not the impressive collection that others here have presented, but maybe some interesting items.  While I like physical books better, I have fallen victim to the electronic/virtual world and have a number of books by Skinner,  Karras and others in electronic format.

[chisler]

On 1/19/2023 at 8:43 PM, sauerkraut said:

  It's Winter.  I gather some, or many of us read because we can't fish much.  So, we read, and sometimes reread:  DZ, Skinner, Gribbs, Daignault, Mueller, Audet, etc.

 

 I was looking through some of my library of "contemporary" authors and books, and happened to notice that skinny brown book, STRIPED BASS - Rodman, (next to Dick Russell's Striper Wars in the pic).  Copyright 1944, and probably years before our more well known writers.  This got me digging deeper into my library--  and curious:

1.  What may be in your library?

2.  What may have you read-- or reread?

3  What may you have learned-- or relearned?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just picked up that John Cole book, Striper.  What a great read!

[JerseyJeb]

9 hours ago, CWitek said:

 

The advice is also solid, and I generally prefer it to what we see today.  Too often, modern wriging is very gear-oriented, talking about particular model rods (is the author, perhaps, performing his duties as "pro staff" for a manufacturer?) and other gear, while the older books focused more on the fish themselves, and how to draw a strike.  In salt water, Frank Mundus' Sportfishing for Sharks is still the bible; I've been shark fishing for nearly 50 years, and couldn't materially improve on its content (although it's tough to get ground-up pilot whale chum these days).  The Lyman/Woolner books on striped bass, bluefish, and weakfish. 

 

For an even more stark contrast is when you look at some of the stuff tackle companies used to publish themselves. Actual informative pieces, often letting you know you can catch fish on tackle they don't even sell! Sure they would at some point try to plug their own stuff but you could often read a piece and apply it to some stuff you already had in your tackle box.