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.