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(More customer reviews)Mention the name of Ray Bergman to any group of grey-haired flyfishermen, and they will nod knowingly. Even today, Trout is looked upon as a must in any fisherman's, and especially a flyfisherman's, library.
Why? Certainly there is no shortage of literature on fishing and flyfishing. Many gifted writers have turned their talents to both the beauties and practicalities of fishing; yet Bergman is one of the few whose work has endured well past the author's lifetime. Ted Janes, editor of the book's last edition in 1976, goes so far as to include Trout in the same category as such cornerstones of the fishing literature as Dame Juliana Berners' Treatyse on Fysshynge with an Angle, Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler, Alfred Ronalds' The Fly-Fisher's Entomology, and W.C. Prime's I Go a-Fishing.
Trout speaks in a unique voice, and its voice is independent of the listener's time era. When the reader absorbs the information, he can almost picture Bergman sitting down next to him and talking to him. His very first words in the book - the dedication - immediately invite the reader to a closeness, a camaraderie.
"To you all - The many good fellows I know and have fished with, and those whose paths may never cross mine except through the medium of these pages. This is my visit with you, our fishing adventure together. I trust it will be enjoyable, instructive, and memorable."
Bergman's talents of observation and instruction are a pleasure to read. They allow the reader to immediately envision what the water is doing, what the weather is like, and how the fish are behaving. And the reader can just as easily picture himself working through the approaches that Bergman describes to the different angling puzzles he presents. Bergman details step-by-step trials, including some errors, that culminate in each puzzle's solution.
In one example, he describes an episode fishing with a companion at Brodhead's Creek in Pennsylvania. As happens with all of us, initial efforts proved fruitless.
"Because a few fish were rising we first used dry flies, but after a half hour without results we changed to wets. I don't know how many times Fred changed his flies, but I know that I tried a dozen patterns before I got a rise - to a size 14 Orange Fish Hawk that was being manipulated close to the surface by the 'hand twist' retrieve. Because occasionally the trout were breaking on the surface, we kept fishing our flies near the top, but after an hour of hard work we still had only one fish, which had taken the Orange Fish Hawk the first time it was used."
He proceeded to experiment with different depths, keeping the Hawk on and using the same retrieve style. After finding the proper depth, he exults that the "combination of depth and retrieve proved to be what was needed, and we both took quite a number of fish before tiring of the location."
This illustrates the kind of analysis that Bergman used, his powers of observation, and attention to detail. His unproductive efforts in the episode are an important part of the analysis, and he is not shy about recording them faithfully.
The appeal of his anecdotes is timeless, because, after all, a trout's gene pool and its inherent behavior patterns have changed very little over the past hundred years - and we don't expect much change for another hundred years. The types of puzzles Bergman describes are just as likely to be encountered by today's angler as by the anglers of half a century ago.
As Bergman himself observes, his life occurred during that in-between era of history, which saw the last of the so-called "old-fashioned ways" typified by stateliness, Victorian values, and a much slower pace of life. That culture was supplanted by the beginnings of the modern era, characterized by scientific and technological advances and the consequences (both good and bad) thereof. He describes it in the chapter "Early Experience:"
"When I was a boy, conditions were quite different from what they are today. I am old enough to have experienced the old-fashioned ways of the latter part of the nineteenth century and the rapid-fire progress of the twentieth. I saw the horse and carriage give way to the automobile, the dusty roads change rapidly from macadam to Tarvia and then to concrete. Each advance of progress had its effect on fishing."
This bridging or blending of eras has a curious effect on his writing. The Victorian literary style is evident throughout, yet his approaches are clearly influenced by scientific method.
Another aspect of Trout that has helped its longevity is that it appeals to the thinking angler. Much of Bergman's success can be attributed to his powers of observation and deduction, and he clearly communicates the value of these. By encouraging the reader to follow the dictates of his own reasoning rather than simply following the crowds or conventional wisdom, he strikes a chord in the intellectual snob lurking in all of us. The following comes from the chapter "Water Types and How to Fish Them."
"Most of us have so little time,... we think we must fish the best-looking spots where everyone else fishes because they must be good or no one else would fish them. This is false reasoning, because we are relying on precedents established by easy fishing and in most cases by anglers who have followed the established rules rather than the dictates of their own minds. It would pay larger dividends if we spent more time at thinking and observing than at fishing. Remember that locating fish is more than half the battle. When you know exactly where they are, then you can intelligently fish for them. Otherwise you are simply trusting to luck."
All of these factors came together at one time in history, in one man, and in a book called, simply, Trout. As long as there are members of the genera Oncorhynchus, Salmo, or Salvelinus swimming in streams and lakes, and there are people trying to deceive them into taking a pointed, bent piece of metal in their mouths, Trout's place will remain secure.
Oliver Shapiro
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TroutMany of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing many of these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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