Jim Bashline: "Night Fishing For Trout."

[billems]

I picked up "Night Fishing For Trout," because I remember liking Bashline's writing. He wrote for sporting periodicals and newspapers, back when one could make a living doing it. I think he ended up being the managing editor of "Field and Stream."

What l like about the book is the writing. Outdoor writers like Bashline and Al McLane wrote of tactics and techniques with their skills as storytellers. Books on fishing skills these days are photo-heavy, big on bullet points, and few of the writers are engaging.

The book was written in 1973, and the night fishing is with tradtional English wets in sizes 6-10. The Professor. The Grizzley King, Hardy's Favorite are some of the author's favorites. I've night fished for trout, most noticeably on the Brule with a guy who could pole a canoe and knew the hideouts of every big brown in the river.

Anyway, I find this kind of skilled, breezy approach to various technical aspects of fishing to be just the way to do it. For learning, I loved authors Joe Brooks, Art Lee, Frank Sawyer, Datus Proper. I found Vince Marinaro, innovator that he was, to be among the dullest writers I've ever read. But that's me. I also enjoy Syl Nemes books on soft hackle flies. Plenty of good stories, few diagrams, no promotional bs.

[PYochim]

My wife and I sat at Jim’s table at an annual meeting of the Theodore Gordon Flyfishers in the mid 80’s. A delightful gentleman.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

A good read I am sure - brings to mind night fishing the Hornberg in the middle 1990's in Arkansas below the White and Norfork dams...

[Silver rat]

Billems, I certainly agree with your assessment of "Night Fishing for Trout." Of all the angling books in my library, and they number in the hundreds, that little volume is one of my favorites. I've been following Jim's suggestions for the past decade and have experienced some unbelievable outings. Nothing beats being out on the water on a warm summers night swinging a cast of wet flies.