Fly-Fishing Secrets of the Ancients : A Celebration of Five Centuries of Lore and Wisdom

by Schullery, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780826346889
• ISBN10: 082634688X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-11-30
• Publisher: Univ of New Mexico Pr

Summary

Modern fly-fishing is only the latest chapter in a two-millennia saga of technological creativity and passionate observation of the natural world. In Fly-Fishing Secrets of the Ancients, historian-naturalist Paul Schullery explores the earlier chapters in that saga and unearths a host of provocative theories, techniques, and insights that helped shape the modern fly-fisher. Schullery demonstrates that whether we're looking for a good fish story, a clearer understanding of why we fish the way we do, or even a way to improve our own sport, we ignore our elders at our peril. Fly-Fishing Secrets of the Ancientsoffers the beginning fly-fisher an unprecedented opportunity to come to terms with some of the sport's most fundamental theoretical and practical challenges. It offers the expert fly-fisher a chance to test current angling dogma--and his or her own pet theories--against that of the sport's greatest past masters. And it offers all readers a fresh, probing, and often-humorous take on the great endless fish story we perpetuate and enrich every time we cast a fly.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Catch More Fish!	p. 1
The Theoretical Fly
Is the Wet Fly Sunk?	p. 6
Ragtag and Rumpled: The Mystery of the Ratty Fly	p. 24
Strange Attractors: Fly Tying on the Historical Fringes	p. 35
Delivery Systems
Superfine and Very Strong: The Rise and Fall of Silkworm Gut	p. 50
Straps and Ladders: How Many Flies Are Enough?	p. 70
This Most Salutary Reform: The Slow Rise of the Eyed Hook	p. 84
The Hatch-Matching Nondebate	p. 100
The American Evolution
Pacific Salmon and the Myth of Uncatchability	p. 112
The Long Haul: Where Did the Double Haul Come from, and Why Didn't It Get Here Sooner?	p. 141
Grasshopper Country	p. 149
Real Dogs and Dreadful Scourges: Have You Invented the Streamer Yet?	p. 170
Fly-Fishing Secrets of the Ancients: A Brief Manual	p. 187
Acknowledgments	p. 206
Notes	p. 209
Index	p. 240
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