Royal Coachman
The Lore and Legends Of Fly-Fishing , by Paul Schullery,
220 pages, Fireside (Simon & Schuster), 1999.
Paul Schullery has writen about nature and outdoor pursuits for some time, but it finally took a recommendation from a friend for me to get my hands on this book. This collection of essays tries very hard to not follow the usual mode of typical "Flyfishing" writing and for the most part it succeeds. He starts off with "All The Young Men With Flyrods" and immediately takes task with Gary LaFountaine's introduction of John Gierachs' seminal Trout Bum, as far as what defines that term. Hey, if you are going to challenge some notions about flyfishing, why not start big, right? He ventures forth to find out what the term meant to him when he was a young fishing pirate, what it used to mean, and whether it needs to mean anything at all. In this type of writing Mr. Schullery shines. Being an angling historian, he can hit on notes and reference things the rest of us (who think of the "old days" means pre-graphite rods) can only dream of. He continues on through early American flyfishing and writing about flyfishing, while weaving his own history into the story, giving the reader no doubt where his opinions come from. In "Arts And Crafts" he takes on the notion of flyfishing or flytying being considered an "art" by a large number of us , and makes some serious philosophical points, and humbles us all a little with such good serious thought and the historical viewpoint for such thought. It may be my favorite essay in the entire book. In "Occasions for Hope in the Hook and Bullet Press" he strikes close to home for this writer, it's a fantastic essay on the history of outdoor writing on this continent, from the change from the old archetype "me and Joe went fishing" type story to attempts of outdoor writing to be about something else entirely, or even "literature" - whether successful or not. A super job, and one I have re-read often.
If you're looking for a "how to" manual, obviously this isn't your book, but if you enjoy thoughtful, historicaly-referenced essays on the why we do what we do as flyfishermen, and how some of this came to be, you'll really like this one.
I should have picked this one up years ago, but at least I have it now. I highly recommend it.
