"Hemingway on Fishing is an encompassing, diverse, and fascinating assemblage. From the early Nick Adams stories and the memorable chapters on fishing the Irati River in The Sun Also Rises to such late novels as Islands in the Stream, this collection traces the evolution of a great writer's passion, the range of his interests, and the sure use he made of fishing, transforming it into the stuff of great literature."--Jacket.

The Compleat Surfcaster has everything the beginning angler needs to know for more productive surfcasting - and even experienced surf fishermen will find an invaluable resource in this concise and authoritative book. Beginning with a thorough review of tackle, rigs, baits, lures, and accessories, The Compleat Surfcaster teaches the fisherman better casting methods for distance and accuracy and 'reading the surf' techniques for finding more fish. There is an invaluable chapter on driving and outfitting beach buggies; and a special table gives essential details on tackle, techniques, and strategies for catching blues, stripers, redfish, as well as other popular gamefish on all coasts. The Compleat Surfcaster will help put fish on the lines of surf fishermen everywhere. (7 X 9 1/4, 208 pages, b&w photos, diagrams)

This deluxe reprint Legacy Edition of Isaak Walton's The Compleat Angler (Complete Angler) is full of old-time tips and methods for catching that legendary big fish. First published in 1653, this timeless book is loaded with stories and secrets of the sport of fishing. Almost four centuries old, this book has served as the definitive fishing manual for generations! This version reprints an edition with beautiful antique illustrations and line art to compliment Walton's explanation of fishing skills.

The few events in the long life of Izaak Walton have been carefully investigated by Sir Harris Nicolas. All that can be extricated from documents by the alchemy of research has been selected, and I am unaware of any important acquisitions since Sir Harris NicolasÕs second edition of 1860. Izaak was of an old family of Staffordshire yeomen, probably descendants of George Walton of Yoxhall, who died in 1571. IzaakÕs father was Jarvis Walton, who died in February 1595-6; of IzaakÕs mother nothing is known. Izaak himself was born at Stafford, on August 9, 1593, and was baptized on September 21. He died on December 15, 1683, having lived in the reigns of Elizabeth, James I., Charles I., under the Commonwealth, and under Charles II. The anxious and changeful age through which he passed is in contrast with his very pacific character and tranquil pursuits. Of WaltonÕs education nothing is known, except on the evidence of his writings. He may have read Latin, but most of the books he cites had English translations. Did he learn his religion from Ôhis mother or his nurseÕ? It will be seen that the free speculation of his age left him untouched: perhaps his piety was awakened, from childhood, under the instruction of a pious mother. Had he been orphaned of both parents (as has been suggested) he might have been less amenable to authority, and a less notable example of the virtues which Anglicanism so vainly opposed to Puritanismism. His literary beginnings are obscure.

The ultimate reference guide to your fishing line and everything that goes on the end of it: hooks, sinkers, snaps, swivels, floats, leaders, lures, and knots.

A Times and Sunday Times Book of the Year Peer into the secret, silent world of the freshwater fish and explore evolution of the art and industry of fishing in Britain's rivers and streams. From cunning Neolithic traps, intricate Roman nets and quarrellous Victorian societies to the evolution of angling and eventual gentrification of river access, this history spans thousands of years and ends with a poignant call to protect the underwater world from the horrors of industrial fishing and farming. Meanwhile, another thread of the narrative weaves in the lives of the fishes themselves: the incredible struggles of the Atlantic salmon and secretive eel; the pike, a lean and camouflaged predator; the carp, huge and stately, begetter of obsessions; the exquisite spotted brown trout and its silver cousin, the grayling. Lives built on and around fishing have largely faded from Britain, but fishermen and conservationists are working tirelessly to prevent the same fate befalling the fishes.

Blood Knots is a brilliant and dramatic memoir of an angler’s life. It places Jennings in the front rank of natural history writers. As a child in the 1960s, he was fascinated by the rivers and lakes around his home. Beneath their surfaces waited alien and mysterious worlds. With library books as his guide, he applied himself to the task of learning to fish. His progress was slow, and for years, he caught nothing. But then a series of teachers presented themselves, including an inspirational young intelligence officer, from whom he learned stealth, deception, and the art of dry-fly fishing. So began an enlightening but often dark-shadowed journey of discovery. It would lead to bright streams and wild country, but would end with his mentor’s capture, torture, and execution by the IRA. Blood Knots is about angling, about great fish caught and lost, but it is also about friendship, honor, and coming of age. As an adult, Jennings has sought out lost and secretive waterways, probing waters at dead of night in search of giant pike. The quest, as always, is for more than the living quarry. For only by searching far beneath the surface, he suggests in this most moving and thought-provoking of memoirs, can you connect with your own deep history. Jennings offers here a striking, elegiac narrative for lovers of unique memoirs and the finest fly-fishing literature.