Books on Destinations for Fly Fishing
Backcast: Fatherhood, Fly-Fishing, and a River Journey Through the Heart of Alaska
by Lou UreneckEdition: Hardcover
Father and Son Unfurled
The author invites you to come along on a rafting / fly fishing trip down Alaska's Kanektok River. There's excitement in the air in the opening chapter as the author and his teenage son hop planes from Philly to Anchorage then to Dillingham and finally dropped by bush-plane into the Alaskan wilderness - ON THEIR OWN. To dial up the adventure meter here, the East coast duo decides to cover the 100 plus mile float by themselves. Add to that a shoe-string budget for equipment and a first time ever trip to the wilds of Alaska, and well, I sensed it would be interesting.
And yes, these guys experience the thrills and dangers of the untamed Alaskan wilderness first-hand. But the greater adventure Lou Ureneck has in mind for us in Backcast isn't catching wild silver salmon on a fly-rod, but the adventure of growing up, becoming a man, and the demands of being a good father.
Backcast alternates settings between Alaskan wilderness and Ureneck's various homes which range from South Jersey up north to Maine. At least a third to a half of the book tells Ureneck's life story. How he grew up. The importance he places on fishing as an escape from an unstable family life and as a common bond with his step-father. And lastly, living through the stress and anguish of a crumbling marriage.
Ureneck vows to not repeat the mistakes of his natural father and his step-father. As the story closes, we are presented with a father who has made tough choices but refuses to throw in the towel on his son. The struggle here to maintain the love and respect of his college-bound son, is no less in scope to what it takes to survive the raw, Alaskan wilderness. At the end of Backcast, I'm left feeling that his father is certainly up to the task.
Ureneck delivers a well-told, and extremely personal story of a man's journey to confront a childhood filled with temporary homes and temporary father figures. The struggle against the Alaskan elements sometimes pale in comparison.
Trout Eyes: True Tales of Adventure, Travel, and Fly-Fishing
by William G. TapplyEdition: Hardcover
Tapply has Trout Eyes for You
The qualities of Bill Tapply's work which jump out are: (1) the craftsmanship of his writing - first class, and (2) the universal themes anglers have grown to know and love. Bill describes settings which transport our minds to the beloved dream-world of casting a dry fly to a large feeding brown trout. And he transports us from our real world of suburban sprawl and traffic jams to our favorite escapes faster than 2 large aspirin.
The stories he tells in Trout Eyes, especially of his youth, embody a Norman Rockwell quality. A certain purity and innocence of a time past as rendered in this passage: "As the winter nights passed, his boxes filled with flies. When I was a kid, there were very few evenings when Dad didn't put in an hour or two at the vise. And if I sat there quietly and waited long enough, he'd eventually pat his knee and invite me to climb up and time a fly or my own." A boy sitting on his father's knee at the tying vise paints a classic image of the fishing tradition - knowledge being passed down from father to son.
Trout Eyes isn't just about trout either. One moment we are at the tying vise, the next Bill is covering the technical aspects of tippet material in the "X Factor." If forced to pick from the various stories that comprise this book, my favorite short story would be "Thinkin' Mean." The story appeals to me on a couple of levels. First, as a long-time fly fisherman, I can relate to the hard won knowledge that it makes to master a complex mayfly hatch on water like the Willowemoc. But more importantly, it's a story about one of the golden rules we as anglers should live by. (By the way, there's a least three other unwritten golden rules for angling.) And this golden rule is simple: to share your knowledge and insight with others (a.k.a. the secret fly). So, Bill if we should ever share the same water and I mange to hook all the fish, I'll be sure to throw a "Cigarette fly" your way.
Being, Nothingness, and Fly Fishing: How One Man Gave Up Everything to Fish the Fabled Waters of the West by Michael Checchio
Edition: Hardcover
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A good blend of travelogue, US history, and flyfishing guide, January 16, 2002This book accompanied me over the Christmas holiday, and proved to be an excellent read. The author's passion for flyfishing is evident thoughout the text. Flyfishing, however, is not the only dimension to this book. Michael Checchio also has a keen sense of place, and shares interesting bits of history, people he meets, and natural settings he visited during his flyfishing junket through the Western United States. It reads similar to a travel journal, so it will appeal to readers who want to know more about the western states.
And of course, its biggest appeal will be to those of us with a passion for flyfishing. To that extent, the book can even serve as basic guidebook to fishing places such as Yellowstone, Henry's Fork, and steelhead waters in Northern California and Oregon. Aftering reading the book, you'll understand why the author quit his well-paid job in New Jersy and moved west."
