Fly Fishing Is Spoken Here: The Most Prominent Anglers in the World Talk Tactics, Strategies, and Attitudes

Rating:
Summary: A Treasure for Your Fly-Fishing Library
Review: Gleaned from more than 450 hours of live radio interviews, Fly Fishing Is Spoken Here is a handsome volume that belongs on the bookshelf of every literate fly fisher. Interviews with the likes of James Prosek, Ernest Schwiebert, Valerie Haig-Brown, Joseph Humphreys, Robert Linsenman, Fen Montaigne, and ten others provide a unique perspective not only on these individuals but on the sport they clearly love.

Credit editor Stephen Sloan, perhaps best thought of as the Larry King of the fishing world, for recognizing the unique vitality of the spoken word and capturing its essence in these interviews collected from his weekly nationally syndicated radio show, "The Fishing Zone." That this collection originated as dialogue, with all the spontaneity and flow of conversation intact and preserved, ensures that each of the interviews captured bears an immediacy and honesty seldom retained in conventional narrative about the sport. It's surely no accident that the effect of reading this book bears no small resemblance to the sport it explores: it's somewhat like immersing oneself in a trout stream, fly rod in hand, and enjoying the unpredictable process of discovering the treasures that lie within.

And credit publisher William Trego with creating yet another beautiful limited-edition volume from his Meadow Run Press. The heir apparent to the Derrydale Press of an earlier generation, no other publisher of sporting titles today produces books of such consistently high quality and beauty, and this volume certainly adds to that well-deserved reputation. Slipcased and with original paintings and drawings by the subject of the book's opening interview, James Prosek-a young artist hailed by The New York Times as "a fair bid to become the Audubon of the fishing world"-this is a book with, believe it or not, heft and beauty significant enough to outweigh and obscure its hundred-dollar price tag. Each of the 750 copies is signed by Sloan and Prosek, ensuring that this book is certain to remain in high demand.