Fly Fishing Book Review by Bob Triggs - Little Stone Flyfisher : Guide

Fish On! A Guide to Playing and Landing Big Fish on a Fly Written by Floyd Franke; Forward by Joan Salvato Wulff Publisher: National Book Network Inc. 120 pages, Clothbound ISBN 1-58667-070-0 $24.95

Sometimes the simplest things are the least obvious. When Floyd Franke pointed out to me that this was the first book ever published on the subject of hooking, playing and landing trophy fish on the flyrod, I was a little surprised. I shouldn't have been. The two most common areas that flyfishers seem to have problems with are casting and playing and landing fish. Though reams have been published on casting, precious little ink has been devoted to the rest of the job. Most guides agree that many fly anglers struggle with the big ones, often losing them at their feet. I have a hunch that this recent addition to the Derrydale Press collection will become an angling literature classic. And along the way a great many fly fishers are going to take a giant step-up in the quality of their fishing experience.

I first met Floyd Franke over a decade ago at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum, where he was demonstrating his meticulopus fly tying skills for the visitors at the annual Opening Day events. Floyd is a world recognized expert fly tier, has won numerous awards, and has many original fly patterns to his credit. Floyd's articles are widely published. He has been the Director of the Casting Board of Governors of the Federation of Flyfishers. And after many years on the staff of the Wulff School of Flyfishing, teaching along with Lee and Joan Salvato Wulff, is now head of the teaching program there. He also runs the Ephemera Guide Service in Roscoe New York, where he lives with his wife Bert, just steps away from the banks of the legendary Beaverkill River.

I had the good fortune of taking fly casting instruction from Floyd, both at the Wulff Instructor's School and during my work for FFF Casting Instructor Certification. Floyd is a wonderfully gifted teacher; he makes the complicated seem simple, while encouraging you to work harder than you ever have before. In short, he makes difficult things possible. When I first saw him giving a talk, at a winter flyfishing show near Boston some years ago,on the techniques revealed in this book, the entire room was spellbound. Floyd's passion for the subject is overwhelming. I have used many of his revolutionary angling methods in my guiding and teaching work ever since. If you take the time to learn these angling techniques your success rate at landing fish will go up. Way up.

Floyd's organizational skills and clear, concise style of presentation ring throughout this long overdue work. Beginning with an overview of his own angling career path; sharing his many struggles and achievements along the way,( broken rods and leaders, lost fish and the ones that got away, and trophies landed too), Floyd chronicles his progress and learning, from his humble worm-dunking days as a boy, to his times shared fishing and teaching with fly angling legends and pioneers Lee and Joan Salvato Wulff. While Floyd credits much of the foundational work of his methods to the Wulffs, it is obvious that the author has steeped himself in this subject to an extroadinary depth. Most of the scenery in this book will relate strongly to freshwater fly fishing, yet much is to be gained through careful study for all kinds of fishers, including saltwater boat anglers. Simple line drawings and a few photographs illuminate the topic. An interesting, if not downright unusual, chapter on the playing and landing characteristics of numerous gamefish species got my attention. The last chapter: "Conservation/Catch and Release" is a fitting close for this book, and a reminder of the responsibilities inherent in modern conservation angling. Something sorely missing from many angling books.

The book begins with the classic "Three Rules for Playing Big Fish":

" To keep the rod tip up, to keep the pressure on, and to not allow slack is about as uncomplicated as it gets. But the three rules are only a starting point. Learning the rules is followed by learning when to break them."

Over the next six chapters Floyd Franke breaks every rule in the book to help you learn something about landing trophy fish, with less effort and less harm to the fish, and much more quickly than many anglers would assume possible. First off; Floyd defines a "big fish" as relative to the tackle being used. So for any given weight rod and line, and any sport fishing species, there are sure to be some lessons learned. For the most part the work is directed toward catch and release angling, with a great deal of attention to understanding rods, reels, lines, leader and tippett construction, materials, knots etc. But everything is presented with the understanding that you are now taking a huge leap past everything else you may have known about the wild ride of handling a big fish in fast water. You will be learning how and when to break the old rules.

Some of it will be a surprise. Floyd gives some very detailed accounts of how beneficial it often is to give a thrashing fish all the slack that you possibly can; rod pointed toward the fish and virtually no drag at all. He is not just talking about simply "bowing the rod" to a leaping fish either- He's talking about free-wheeling SLACK! When was the last time you tried that on a southbound, chrome-bright, winter steelhead? It works! Ever try calmly walking a big ,ocean fresh King Salmon up a beach to the next pool?

First Floyd shows you how to test your own tackle to be sure that you have what it takes. Then he discusses the way rods really work when we have a big fish pulling on the end of our line. Then he teaches us how to play and land the big ones. It takes some study and practise. And you will have to do that yourself. But this book could help you land some of the biggest fish of your life. It has worked for me.

 

Article	038
Created	6-4-2004
Modified	9-19-2005
Author	Bob Triggs
Rating