The Year Of The Angler

"Part angling memoir, part history - the kind of book you can dip into at a moment's notice, or read straight through as you would a novel. You'll enjoy the warm positive tone registered by author Lyon's insights. It'll make you want to fish. It'll shape your viewpoint in ways you didn't expect. Something for everyone. Scientific angling information for those who want that. Hilarious anecdotal material you'd only get by knowing these people firsthand. It's the perfect book to be sitting on your lakefront coffee table.It's there when you want a dose of insights into New England glacial water. It captures in words -- and with great feeling -- what the big lake has to offer.Steve Hickoff - Outdoor Columist and Writer

First work originally published: The year of the angler. New York: Winchester Press, 1973. 2nd work originally published: The year of the trout. Piscataway, N.J.: Winchester Press, c1985.

From the bestselling author of Saban, 4th and Goal, and Sowbelly comes the thrilling, untold story of the quest for the world record tarpon on a fly rod—a tale that reveals as much about Man as it does about the fish. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, something unique happened in the quiet little town on the west coast of Florida known as Homosassa. The best fly anglers in the world—Lefty Kreh, Stu Apte, Ted Williams, Tom Evans, Billy Pate and others—all gathered together to chase the same Holy Grail: The world record for the world’s most glamorous and sought-after fly rod species, the tarpon. The anglers would meet each morning for breakfast. They would compete out on the water during the day, eat dinner together at night, socialize and party. Some harder than others. The world record fell nearly every year. But records weren’t the only things that were broken. Hooks, lines, rods, reels, hearts and marriages didn’t survive, either. The egos involved made the atmosphere electric. The difficulty of the quest made it legitimate. The drugs and romantic entaglements that were swept in with the tide would finally make it all veer out of control. It was a confluence of people and place that had never happened before in the world of fishing and will never happen again. It was a collision of the top anglers and the top species of fish which would lead to smashed lives for nearly all involved, man and fish alike. In Lords of the Fly, Burke, an obsessed tarpon fly angler himself, delves into this incredible moment. He examines the growing popularity of the tarpon, an amazing fish has been around for 50 million years, can live to 80 years old and can grow to 300 pounds in weight. It is a massive, leaping, bullet train of a fish. When hooked in shallow water, it produces “immediate unreality,” as the late poet and tarpon obsessive, Richard Brautigan, once described it. Burke also chronicles the heartbreaking destruction that exists as a result—brought on by greed, environmental degradation and the shenanigans of a notorious Miami gangster—and how all of it has shaped our contemporary fishery. Filled with larger-than-life characters and vivid prose, Lords of the Fly is not only a must read for anglers of all stripes, but also for those interested in the desperate yearning of the human condition.

Now an established classic on the subject, this revised and updated edition of Hooked on Bass shows anglers how to catch bass, particularly the bigger fish, from the shore. With excellent photography and clear, detailed diagrams to help illustrate the advice, any angler, beginner or expert, who has caught or would like to catch bass will find endless value in the pages of this book.

Fishing Saskatchewan features fishing as a year-round activity, from summer walleye and pike fishing, to fly-fishing in the province's streams, to northern fly-in trips, to ice fishing. Sections dedicated to techniques and tackle provide specific information about how to fish for Saskatchewan fish. Chapters on fish stocking, commercial fishing, competitive fishing, and fisheries management look back over more than a hundred years of angling in the province.