Great Fishing Books: We Need them Now More than Ever

These Fishing Books Will be Reads you Won’t Forget

It is no secret that the platforms we increasingly use to communicate have brevity at their core. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat all fight for 2.5 seconds of our day as we scroll through feeds almost endlessly.

Marketing gurus have no doubt noticed the decreasing attention span in Western culture, and they seek to cram a message into a shorter and shorter video or a one-line caption on an Instagram photo, a tweet or even simply a hashtag. With endless feeds to scroll through, who has more than a few seconds to allot to anything, these days?

Tonight at St. John the Evangelist Church in New Hartford, New York, where I work, we had our 7th and 8th grade classes take part in Eucharistic Adoration, a practice where teenagers can simply sit, think, pray and relax in the presence of the consecrated host.

It was something that they were not accustomed to. Our cultural climate is not conducive to anything that might take longer than half an hour unless you can do it while simultaneously doing three other things (Listen to a podcast while watching the game on mute from your treadmill!) I am not, I should mention, immune to, or above this phenomenon: I’ve got a smartphone, use social media and am rushing around like the rest of us.

But it got me thinking that there are things that take time, and that are worth that time. And while you could easily spend a cumulative 90 minutes of your day scrolling through social feeds without learning, discovering or engaging in any meaningful way, if we spent that time reading, the number of incredible stories we’d stand to internalize and make part of our dialogue would be staggering. I can honestly say that nothing, from an entertainment standpoint, has been as moving, enjoyable, rewarding or inspiring as the books I’ve chosen to read in the past few years. In that spirit, I’ll share some of my favorites with you so that if you haven’t read them already, you might consider doing so shortly. And please share your favorites with me, I’d be grateful.

Headwaters

Author: Dylan Tomine

Great Line: We made lifetime memories, and the kids learned valuable early lessons on what it takes to protect the world we love.

Read it Because: Tomine is not only an excellent writer, but he has incredible subject matter to work with. In Headwaters, he talks about everything from his beloved steelhead, to redfish, to why he was the “worst guide in the world,” but that’s not what makes the book worth reading. Tomine is an intelligent, passionate conservationist who truly loves and understands the sport and the species he’s chasing. The book feels like a fascinating friend sitting around a campfire with story after story.

The Moon Pulled up an Acre of Bass

Author: Peter Kaminsky

Great Line: That’s the essence of the bass in the fall. It’s a force of nature that people rarely see.

Read it Because: Peter Kaminsky is a tremendously talented writer, talking about one of the Northeast’s most beloved fish, at a place where they’re loved, chased and prized to a greater degree than they are anywhere else: Montauk. It’s a combination of tremendously interesting subject matter, great writing, a fascinating location and an incredible species.

Lords of the Fly

Author: Monte Burke

Great Line: And those stories of the monsters never to be caught but only seen, or hooked only to be lost, they were told with more relish, more vigor and more feeling than the stories of the fish that were caught, even the ones that became world records.

Read it Because: The cult of anglers chasing the next world-record tarpon in Florida is just something you need to investigate thoroughly to even believe. Luckily for us, Burke did the digging and reporting, so all we need to do is read and suspend disbelief. The camaraderie and rivalry, the lengths that guides go to, and the absolute obsession with a single species, namely, tarpon, is just fascinating. Burke is a hell of a writer and reporter and he’s got some of the best subject matter in the fishing world at his disposal.

From a Branch and a String

Author: David Lindmark

Great Line: They come to G.E.M. to fish. But our campers leave with more than fishing stories, they take home with them Bible stories and words of truth.

Read it Because: Lindmark tells stories from his role as director of G.E.M. camps (Great Expectation Ministries) with humor, faith, fascination, sincerity and wit. Imagine a fishing camp director telling you the best-of-the-best camp tales all in one sitting. This is like that, except Lindmark weaves in his faith, his personal experience, his amazing sense of humor, and insight about both fishing and life that will stay with you long after you finish the book.

On The Run: An Angler’s Journey Down the Striper Coast

Author: David DiBenedetto

Great Line: This wasn’t a pod of fish attacking a school of bait. No, it looked more like every striper in the sea had decided to lay waste to anything it could eat.

Read it Because: If you’re a striper nut, you’ll love this. DiBenedetto chronicles the characters and the places up and down the East Coast with humor and intelligence and does his research. He’s humble and passionate and knowledgeable. If you’re not a striper nut, you’ll just find the stories fascinating. DiBenedetto dives with Mike Laptew to watch stripers beneath the surface. He straps on a wetsuit to swim out to them with Paul Melnyk, and he studies Janet Messinio’s incredible craftsmanship as a taxidermist. The book is a tribute to an incredible relationship between a group of passionate anglers and a remarkable species.

Casting into the Light

Author: Janet Messenio

Great Line: During the off-season, from December until mid-April, I live a normal life. I work, clean the house and cook dinners, walk the dog and take care of everyday business. Come April, the first time I get my fishing rod out of its winter storage and stand in the surf up to my thighs to cast, I exhale. I feel as though I have been holding my breath for the last five months.

Read it Because: This one is fascinating for a number of reasons. Meessenio is a talented taxidermist who lives in an inherently interesting place in Martha’s Vineyard, and she’s a woman competing against men in one of the Northeast’s most competitive fishing derbies. The stories, the humor and the appreciation of the sport and the species are all top-notch.

Carp are Jerks

Author: Mark Usyk

Great Line: I remembered what it was I’d forgotten and started fishing on a more regular basis. I remembered what was important in life.

Read it Because: Usyk writes like a guy you’d meet at a fishing-themed bar who shares funny story after funny story. He’s humble, genuine and enthusiastic about whatever fish he’s chasing. Usyk isn’t trying to impress anyone with accolades or accomplishments, he’s sharing our love of the sport with humor and wit and funny anecdotes that just keep rolling. An Air Force veteran and artist, Usyk has unique, often hilarious and powerful insights on the things we should remind ourselves of on a daily basis.

Read too: Reflections of a Fly Rod, Not all Trout Are Geniuses

Casting Onward

Author: Steve Ramirez

Great Line: What we do in these southwestern mountains is ultimately a reflection of who we’ve become. Let’s rewild America. It’s the natural thing to do.

Read it Because: Ramirez is a marine who worked in counterterrorism before turning to a life of writing, and as anglers and readers we are lucky he did. His books, Casting Onward, Casting Homeward, Casting Forward and Casting Seaward are intelligent, powerful depictions of where we are as an angling culture and where we need to go. A number of writers have waxed poetic about the changes we need to make in our behavior and our habits in order to ensure a positive future for our favorite species but Ramirez goes to the fish, to the water we need to save, and uses knowledgeable and passionate advocates for each species and body of water to paint a detailed and convincing picture of how important it is that we take strides to be better stewards of our resources. If you love reading and fishing, these books are a gift.

Read too: Casting Homeward, Casting Forward, Casting Seaward

A good fishing book will get you interested in new places, species, ways of fishing and even thinking about the sport and all of these do all of that.

Road to Water Issue 7: Stories That’ll Stick

In Our Seventh Issue of The Road to Water Magazine, we have Stories You’ll Never Forget

From the very first issue, we wanted The Road to Water Magazine to be a different reading experience for anglers than what they’d become used to.

We were not here to share the latest and greatest tactics and techniques about where and how to catch your next largest fish. There are websites, apps and podcasts galore that will make those promises.

We were not here to showcase the most recent innovations in gear or tackle. As the media we consume becomes increasingly personalized, no doubt every social media feed you glance at has you inundated with cutting-edge, ultra-light, state-of-the-art, never-before-seen, tackle.

Our simple aim was to share stories about people and places that fascinated us. We knew the best part of any fishing story was always either the people or the place. The characters who attempted incredible feats and the places that were so beautiful, unforgettable or awe-inspiring that their existence could not be kept a secret. There are people and places that are meant for stories.

Take, for example, John Anderson. Anderson is a muskie guide on some of Canada’s wildest and most muskie-rich water, and the man has landed more than 300 fish that were at least 50 inches. With that many muskie put in a boat, you’ve got stories of dogs being attacked, terminally ill patients catching a muskie that lived in a spot that Anderson knew so well that he returned with his sick friend to catch a fish that he knew resided there for… a third time. Anderson has fished with the guitarist from Iron Maiden, a blind angler and once had an angler break his arm while battling a muskie only to land it and keep fishing, landing another fish with his arm in a sling.

Or how about Steve Ramirez, a fantastic fishing writer who we spoke with about his Casting series of books. Ramirez has fished all over the country, traveling and writing, and shares some profound insight about how we need to treat the earth if we expect to leave it for generations to come after us. A columnist for Fly Fisherman Magazine, Ramirez’s words are as meaningful and well-chosen as anyone working as an outdoor writer today.

Monte Burke is another phenomenal writer whose books have resonated with thousands of readers as he’s explored topics from world-record largemouth bass to the obsessive quest for giant tarpon in Florida. Burke was kind enough to share some of the inspiration and insight that has gone into his writing.

But for straight wow-power, it’s tough to top Jeremiah Catlin. This army chaplain sustained a life-threatening injury in the Middle East, had a potentially deadly surgery stateside that wound up saving his life, and has devoted his time thereafter to getting veterans on the water and in the woods through his ministry at Chappy’s Outdoors.

If you’re on a quest to catch giant, beautiful brook trout, you’d be hard-pressed to find more wisdom than Scott Daskiewich offers us in our interview. The Adirondack angler has landed more big brook trout than anyone I’ve ever met or talked to.

Blair Erickson is a top-notch college bass fisherman at the University of Alabama, Montevallo, and shares what it’s like to be working on a four-year degree while bouncing around the Southeast competing in college bass tournaments.

There are more stories in this issue, and we think you’ll love them. That’s exactly why we created the Road to Water. It is our sincere belief that that “you-won’t-believe-this…” expression, story, or incredulous attempt at description is the beating heart of our love for the sport. It’s the stories that we trade, search for and hold onto, over a tackle counter, a campfire, a cell phone and especially through words and images, that make this sport one that we all share with one another. It’s the stories that connect us, inspire us and that have the power to live forever.

Thanks for reading and God bless,

Rick