Jack Ellis -- The Sunfishes

The Sunfishes: A Fly Fishing Journey of Discovery by Jack Ellis

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
The strength of Ellis's book is also its failing. Rather than focus on technique, flies, etc. (which he does well), he essentially constructs an argument for a particular approach to fishing, and the approach just isn't that appealing.

Ellis is a fly and trout snob. When he's forced to learn warmwater fishing, it doesn't breakdown his elitism, it just gives him one more thing to be elitist about. A fair bit of the time he's actually self-effacing, but when he mocks his snobbishness, there's no hint of regret that it's there. He's critical of boats, bass fisherman, plastic worms (which, oddly, he uses to find fish and then rationalizes -- I'll throw a live worm, but I won't apologize for it).

It is interesting to see someone developing an approach, and 15 years ago this might have been novel stuff. Oddly, he shifts focus from panfish (a word he loathes) to bass, which are technically sunfish, but not the focus for most of the book, nor what most people would expect.

Also, and this is minor gripe that just got to me because it happens twice, I'm pretty sure that a spotted bass isn't a type of smallmouth. Each are distinct species, and while a spot has a smaller mouth than a largemouth, that doesn't make it a type of smallmouth.

Recommendation: read the Wilsons' book on bluegill first, and if you're really hungry for more, then come to this one.


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Anglenook General Note

I know, this wasn't supposed to turn into a reviews blog, and, don't worry, because it hasn't. I can't speak for my co-writers, but I've been swamped lately, and largely indoors. Once the fishing heats up again, I'll be posting more regularly and hopefully more entertainingly here, both about recent outings and -- as was initially the idea -- about stories from the past.

Stay tuned, I've got one coming up that involves both the biggest brook trout I've ever seen in person and a carp that I caught with my bare hands, and how the two experiences were strange and similar.

Bill Heavey -- If You Didn't Bring Jerky, What Did I Just Eat?

If You Didn't Bring Jerky, What Did I Just Eat: Misadventures in Hunting, Fishing, and the Wilds of Suburbia by Bill Heavey

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Okay, I'm probably feeling a little generous giving this one 5 stars, but it's the best of its sort of thing I've read in a long time.

I think of Heavey as the F&S humor columnist. He's usually funny without being hilarious (there are touches of McManus here, but very few, and it's a pretty different aesthetic). Heavey plays the average guy well -- he's self-effacing, but he rarely makes himself into a complete idiot. He's a guy like you, except he gets to go cool places. And he also does things like forget his pants and end up hunting in his longjohns.

What I hadn't remembered about Heavey is how well he does serious, too, whether it's tackling the death of a kid (in an article I did remember very well, even if I'd forgotten the byline), a sad but unforgettable mountain lion hunt, or a Hunt of Lifetime trip.

This book was supposed to kill some time between bigger works, but it ended up being my favorite read in sometime, and one I could barely spread out properly.


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Flyfisher's Guide to Virginia - David Hart

Flyfisher's Guide to Virginia: Including West Virginia's Best Fly Fishing Waters by David Hart

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
It's a very impressive overview of fly fishing opportunities in Virginia. From 2006, it seems pretty up-to-date (at least well matching the areas I've fished and even providing accurate directions to the locations). The hatch guides are useful, and while the quick run-down on necessary equipment is a bit perfunctory, the guide to assembling a basic fly assortment makes a good, quick intro to the subject. The takes on each fish species are very brief, but somewhat idiosyncratic, adding a nice flavor. This book would be pretty indispensable in exploring VA's fishing options.


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Bluegill... -- Roxanne and Terry Wilson

Bluegill Fly Fishing & Flies by Roxanne Wilson

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Essential reading for the warm water fly fisher.


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A Semi-Perfect Day

A few weeks ago, I went out for what might be my last warmwater fishing outing of the year. I headed again to the lake, and I can't tell if I had a good trip or a disappointing one.

Here's the thing: this time of year, I don't expect to catch many fish. What I was hoping to get into was some really big bluegill. They fatten up this time of year, and some of my biggest sunfish have come in Octobers past. So I was only hoping to catch one or two fish, but of a quality sort. My day turned out a little differently.

I went to my favorite spot, and before long a massive 'gill hit just a few feet out from the bank. It easily would have been my biggest of the year, but (as my grammar gives away) the fish came off. I was fishing a tiny crankbait, and those little hooks are prone to pulling out.

No big deal, especially when a little while later, I started seeing bass strike at my lure. They wanted an exact angle and depth of retrieve, and when I could replicate that path, I'd get a strike. Finally a big one hit, maybe 15 inches. He didn't fight at all and I gave him a slow pump. Then he came up and didn't even shake his head, but just gave a real slow back-and-forth motion. The lure popped out.

I was a little disheartened, but I persisted in that spot until I was convinced that nothing else was going to hit. I moved to the spillway and finished the tiny pool between the lake and the creek. Remarkably, I started getting hits on nearly every cast. I took six or seven fish, including one little bass and one chub. The rest were typical undersized sunnies.

Now, had I known before arriving that I'd catch six or seven fish, I'd have been pleased with that prospect, but to have missed the two I was after was disappointing. While the brief flurry in the pool was fun, it also meant that all my catching over the course of a couple hours happened within a span of maybe 15 minutes. Had I been able to throw those first two fish that came off into the mix, I'd have called it a perfect outing, especially for October. Instead, I'm not sure how to feel.

The good thing, at least, is that catching the chub allowed me to figure out what the silver-flashing fish I had hooked and lost earlier in the spring were. I wouldn't have thought there were chubs in that lake, so I never considered it.

Okay, how I feel: I caught fish. That never feels bad. Let's take it at that and head into fly-tying season (minus cold-weather brookie fishing as soon as the spawn's over, of course).

Dick Sternberg - Panfish

Panfish: The Complete Guide to Catching Sunfish, Crappies, White Bass and Yellow Perch by Creative Publishing international

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
It's a solid intro to the sport, with some extra detail and spots in too little in others. I got it largely for the photos (which are, for the most part, pretty impressive, esp. the underwaters shots), but I picked up some ideas here and there, too.



The odd thing about reading this book is that it feels a little like a time-warp, or at least a remove from what I normally read. There's no concern with catch-and-release here, which isn't too surprising given that it's a book on panfishing. Some of the techniques are just things I haven't seen discussed in a while, like peeling live crayfish, using chunks of perch to catch perch, etc.



All in all worth the read, and more worth the pics, but not groundbreaking or anything.


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Btw, we'll be back soon with more stories. This site hasn't turned into a reviews mag.