Winter Reading

Winter is a good time for tying flies, and for reading. Whether you curl up to read in front of a glowing woodstove or a glowing screen, there are many books and articles about fly fishing to enhance your pleasure and expand your understanding.

This essay from The Millions is a good place to start, reflecting on writing and fishing and recommending several excellent examples of fishing writing along the way.

The Longest Silence: On Writing and Fishing

By NICK RIPATRAZONE posted at 6:00 am on August 25, 2014

The Compleat Angler, Izaak Walton’s 1653 book (pdf) of practical advice, poems, songs, and dialogues about fishing, ends with the intonation “study to be quiet.” The phrase comes from the first book of Thessalonians. Walton would likely have been familiar with the King James Version of the phrase, which reads, “And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you.”

The connection between fishing and religion remains. Holly Morris notes in her wonderful essay, “Fumbling After Grace,” “both fishing and writing are largely acts of faith: you believe that there is indeed a rich run of ideas lurking below. The convoluted first drafts, the false casts and hooked branches are all a part of some cosmic ritual designed to seduce a shiny gem to the surface. You get a nibble and your mind sings as you play the idea and reel it in. Only sometimes is it a keeper.” Faith is what brings anglers back to shallow streams, and what brings writers back to imperfect drafts.

Read more.