book reviews

[jomatty]

i just finished reading a few fishing books and thought id start a thread where people could share their opinions and make suggestions on books they have enjoyed.  these books are not instructional in nature but i would certainly be just as interested in those that are.

Sowbelly

i really enjoyed this book.  you guys in Cali are crazy  .  i would have liked to know more about how they go about the various techniques and such but thats not what the author was trying to do.  he really talked with some fascinating characters and that made the book very interesting.  this book definitely gave me mixed emotions about some of the peoples obsessiveness.  Some of them obviously went too far.  when families are lost and childerens formitive years are missed it is obviously too much.  on the other hand, their dedication was amazing.  most of them do it for next to no monetary reimbursement and instead of making money on the pursuit spend countless dollars on it. im not a trophy bass fisherman and one thing that i found reading this book is that it is unlikely i could ever get into it.  i have a lot of respect for these guys and fish chris and the like but i just would not like it as much as fishing in a style more similar to tournament fishing where you must catch quality and quantity.  i just like figuring out the fish and developing a pattern and not having to go often weeks before knowing how i am doing and between fish.  anyways, this book could have been better but i still really enjoyed it and would guess that other fanatical fisherman would like it aswell.  heck i even enjoyed the second book and i thought it sucked...

fishing on the edge mike iaconelli

im not an ike fan but it was about fishing so i thought id give it a try.  since it was about fishing i enjoyed it but really didnt think it was very good.  the one thing that was impressive was his rise through the ranks and the federation.  his determination is truly impressive and inspiring.  i actually hoped to like him more after this book and to find out what makes him tick and act like he does.  ive always thought that his outbursts are now an act most of the time and that was still the feeling i had after reading this book.  there is no doubt that he is capable of these outbursts naturally and has done that before but i think after reading the book that he is almost certainly acting a fair amount of the time.  hearing him talk about the michael Iaconnelli "brand" adds to that suspicion.  he is just so in to himself and marketing himself.  anyways it was about fishing so i must admit to enjoying it even though it was annoying in parts and not especially good in my opinion.

one other book that ive recently read and enjoyed is the longest silence by Thomas Mcguane

this book is not about bass fishing at all and is in fact about fly fishing.  it happened to be on the book shelf of our beach house this year so i read it on the beach (which no doubt helped my enjoment of it).  i was familiar with mcguane but not from anything to do with fishing (he wrote 92 in the shade and Nothing but blue skies).  although this book is not about bass it is a really good read.  it is so well written and paints such beautiful pictures of the authors life long and wandering journey to find fish that even non fishermen should enjoy this immensely.  this book is really a great one in my opinion.  it is a series of essays chronicaling mcguane's travels.  this book made me want to get a fly rod (an urge ive since lost) and start fishing for trout (something ive never enjoyed).

anyways those are some fishing books ive read recently.  id love to hear anything anyone else has read recently, either novels or instructional in nature

matt

[flechero]

this book made me want to get a fly rod (an urge ive since lost) and start fishing for trout (something ive never enjoyed).

Largemouth, smallmouth, hybrids, stripers, any saltwater fish...  all are AWESOME on a flyrod!!  

And much like the book did, your regular waters look different when you are holding a flyrod.  Something that has to be experienced, to understand.

Thanks for the reviews.

[nboucher]

Try a book called The Founding Fish, by John McPhee. It's all about shad fishing, but it's a wonderful read by a great writer. There's also a good chapter at the end about catch & release that goes into some PETA stuff that's interesting, too. Plus some of his recipes for shad and shad roe.

[CrazedL.IFisherman]

One book i liked all about bass fishing is " Bass: Largemouth in the 1990's" written by many pro anglers

[SBM-RL]

I loved SOWBELLY and FISHING AGAINST THE EDGE both were great and i learned alot from each

[joes]

Although written for nightcrawler fishing, "Lukers Love Nightcrawlers" is a great book for anyone interested in fishing. It has great information about structure fishing, boat control as well as information on using a fish finder. And for 10 bucks you can't go wrong.