BOOKS

[ibrox]

I happened to be looking through one of my fly-tying books and I came across a fly someone had been asking about. It got me thinking there is no thread on fishing books.

Thought it might be a good idea to get the ball rolling for anglers and fly-tyers alike.

My recommendations are for the angler Hugh Falkus' Salmon Fishing and for the fly-tyer Hairwing & Tube Flies for Salmon by Chris Mann.

Anyone else got any suggestions to help out those who are looking for tips and methods on the art of salmon angling.

AA

[jock]

Books are excellent, have their place, and are nice to have. They will supply the background, but not necessarily the real belief and confidence beginners need, or in the case of the more experienced those little ideas that can only come from a wide, experienced group of like minded people.

For that you need to come here. The up to date quality, friendly and often step by step advice on fly tying or otherwise of this forum will take some beating.

Long may it remain so.

[jimthefish]

Anything by John Ashley-Cooper but definitely The Great Salmon Rivers of Scotland , A Salmon Fisher's Oddysey and A Line on Salmon , anything by W.B. Currie and Francis Grant's " Salmon FlyFishing, The Dynamics Approach"

[jock]

jimthefish said:

Anything by John Ashley-Cooper but definitely The Great Salmon Rivers of Scotland , A Salmon Fisher's Oddysey and A Line on Salmon , anything by W.B. Currie and Francis Grant's " Salmon FlyFishing, The Dynamics Approach"

Good books, but I'm still looking forward to your book Jim. Record Springer from the Tweed and all that. Got a title yet?

[jimthefish]

jock said:

jimthefish said:

Anything by John Ashley-Cooper but definitely The Great Salmon Rivers of Scotland , A Salmon Fisher's Oddysey and A Line on Salmon , anything by W.B. Currie and Francis Grant's " Salmon FlyFishing, The Dynamics Approach"

Good books, but I'm still looking forward to your book Jim. Record Springer from the Tweed and all that. Got a title yet?

They used to say that you should not consider writing a book on salmon fishing until you had caught over 1000 salmon. I've passed that mark but at the moment I'm too busy fishing Jock !

[macsalmo]

jock said:

Books are excellent, have their place, and are nice to have. They will supply the background, but not necessarily the real belief and confidence beginners need, or in the case of the more experienced those little ideas that can only come from a wide, experienced group of like minded people.

For that you need to come here. The up to date quality, friendly and often step by step advice on fly tying or otherwise of this forum will take some beating.

Long may it remain so.

Spot on Jock

I have loads of books (all the ones mentioned ) but the real info for me has come from this site.

Long may it live ;D

Gary

[robmason]

jimthefish said:

jock said:

Good books, but I'm still looking forward to your book Jim. Record Springer from the Tweed and all that. Got a title yet?

They used to say that you should not consider writing a book on salmon fishing until you had caught over 1000 salmon. I've passed that mark but at the moment I'm too busy fishing Jock !

I wonder if anyone else has passed the 1000 on here?

[ibrox]

Jock

Iagree that this forum is the biz when it comes to learning about fishing . But we can't all take our computers to bed for a read of an evening or even for that matter the puggy . And i for one like my fly-tying books next to me for reference while tying .

ATB

AA

[jimthefish]

macsalmo said:

jock said:

Books are excellent, have their place, and are nice to have. They will supply the background, but not necessarily the real belief and confidence beginners need, or in the case of the more experienced those little ideas that can only come from a wide, experienced group of like minded people.

For that you need to come here. The up to date quality, friendly and often step by step advice on fly tying or otherwise of this forum will take some beating.

Long may it remain so.

Spot on Jock

I have loads of books (all the ones mentioned ) but the real info for me has come from this site.

Long may it live ;D

Gary

In my opinion one of the great attractions of our sport is that one lifetime is not enough to learn all there is to know about salmon fishing. So the secret is to soak up information from all available sources including this Forum.
Don't ignore books however. They distillate the greatest teacher of all : experience. Ashley Cooper's writing's are timeless ( as are Bill Currie's) and summarise succinctly the understanding of a lifetime(s) rich in fishing.

[Fruin]

1000 fish!!! I can only dream of those days.
Some books just tell you what you already knew, but make you think about it in a different way.
I liked John Ashley Coopers "The Great Salmon Rivers of Scotland" but found it more of an interesting book, than a show you how to catch a fish book.
I definitely liked Crawford Little's "Success with Salmon" as it is one of those books that makes you think about what you are doing on the river.
I liked Ian Woods "My Way with Salmon" - local interest. It is a very personal account of his experience in the sport.
Keachie's books give more of a scientific(?) approach which I don't really favour but is good for background info.
I have read a few older books and must admit that I like anything of a bygone era, as it puts you in a different place and time.
I never tire of reading about salmon fishing, but you cannot beat personal experience for accelerating the learning curve.

[lomond]

At my current rate of progress I should reach the 1000 mark around 21/07, oh sorry that should be 2107 !!

[robmason]

graham said:

I am just past the 1000 mark.
As for books, the Crawford Little books, Success with Salmon and The Salmon Fishers Year are both worth a read.

I had a good season for me last year, landing 4. If I keep that up I'll be there in about 200 250 years.

[bg110960]

I would recommend The Fly Tier's Benchside Guide for anyone interested in tying flies. Written by Ted Leeson and Jim Schollmeyer its expensive but showa every possible variation on every tying technique. I also have Hugh Falkus book on salmon fishing which is first class

[elwyman]

The books on salmon fishing written in the last 20 years or so are much better for the beginner than some of the books from the 60s and 70s that I've read.

No disrespect meant, because he was obviously a fine angler, but Reg Righini's book on salmon fishing was the hardest read of all. I read it about 25 years ago, and recall it contained an awful lot of complicated hypotheses about colours, shades and sizes of salmon flies which probably put me off fly fishing for salmon for the next 20 years. It was trying to convince the reader that fly selection was a mystical art.

I think some writers try to overcomplicate fly fishing for trout and salmon - it ain't that hard if there's a taking fish in the pool!

I'd agree that some of the best advice around can be found on this forum, long may it continue brothers of the angle!

[macd]

Neil Graesser
Bill Currie
Arthur Oglesby
Crawford Little

The first 2 are my favourites. I thought HF book was a bit stuffy and up itself

[jimthefish]

Had an interesting experience on the Dee on Tuesday and it made me think about this thread.
A mate of mine had both Ballogie and Carlogie Beats so in the morning I was allocated the stretch below Potarch Bridge. The guage was running at 2'3" so I set up with my Loop Quattro and the extrafast tip which I believe has a sink rate of 7"per second. Put on a 1.25" light brass tube dressed in the fashion of a Drowned Mouse ala Francis Grant who was a regular rod on Ballogie before his demise.
The water temp was about 40F & air 48F in fact it felt more like April than Feb. As I fished down the Beat I was starting to wonder if my fly was too big for the conditions when a strong pull in Floating Bank proved me wrong.
Result fresh fish about 10lbs landed at 10.40am.

I was on my own by the way & had to lay the fish briefly on the steep bank for a photo but it powered away strongly when returned. What joy !
In the afternoon I was sent up to the top of Carlogie to see what I could do. Now Ballogie I know well but Carlogie I have only fished once before for a day in February a few years ago. Sean, the ghillie came with me to remind me how to find the uppermost pools but he is new to these beats this year & is still finding his way. Now here's the rub.
In my glovecompartment I had a copy of Frederick Hill's gem of a book called "Salmon Fishing. The Greased Line on Dee, Don and Earn". He was the ghillie on Carlogie in the thirties and forties and within the book is a chapter on Carlogie with a description of each pool and optimum/maximum heights. Sean and I stood by the hut at Pitslug and read the extract on The Long Haugh, the pool above. Carlogie is essentially a low water beat (apart from the marvellous Boat and Village Pools) but the extract indicated that "the lower half of the pool can produce fish at a height of 2feet4inches ". As we looked up we could have sworn that the pool looked too fast to hold a springer but in view of what the book said, we agreed to walk up together to take a look. As we approached the last 50yards of the pool just where the last backwater stream comes in I remarked to Sean "that water looks as if it could hold a fish" when the line pulled away strongly and I was into him. Result a springer of about 8lbs landed and returned. Nice moment for ghillie and angler.
The point is, without Mr. Hill's book I would never have taken the trouble to walk up, wade over the backstreams and therefore would never have caught that second salmon.
Mr. Hill's book was published in 1948.

[ibrox]

Just goes to show, books aren't such a bad idea when it comes to fishing. There is always something to be learned in a book.
Thanks for that Jim.

Lovely fish by the way.

ATB Mike ;D

[elwyman]

Lovely fish and a nice story Jim, what a start to the season you're having.

[lomond]

Great fish Jim. I've got Francis Grant's book and it's excellent. Sorry to hear he is no longer with us, I didn't know this.

[sewinangler]

That is a fin perfect fish. Superb.

A good photo and story too.