“Fly Fishing” by J.R. Hartley

It’s not hard to tempt me into a new book. I tempt myself, most of the time.

And it certainly doesn’t have to be new. In fact, old books have a few things on their side that new books do not. Most significantly, they have time and because of this, the old books themselves have the ability to carry with them their own stories. Old books come with legacies and the weight of all those they have affected. When a friend introduces you to a favorite old book, it’s like meeting a new friend.

I find it interesting to scan Amazon’s Best Sellers Rankings and note the age of the books. I don’t know what their algorithm is for determining these rankings but as examples, currently the #17 best selling “Fishing” book is Peter Kaminsky’s recently-released collection (featuring, I’m proud to say, a number of friends) The Catch of a Lifetime, and #21 is The Longest Silence by Thomas McGuane, first published in 1999. Undoubtedly, McGuane’s classic has sold more total copies than Kaminsky’s three-month old compilation, but it also must still sell comparable numbers to be ranked as such. To me, this signifies a book that spans time and in doing so, brings with it the tangential stories its readers have because of reading it.

As another example, #31 on the list is Sheridan Anderson’s Curtis Creek Manifesto, published in 1978. Consider how many people, while learning to fly fish, read that book, then went out on to the river and returned with a story of their own to tell.

In title chapter in The Longest Silence is all about fly fishing for permit. “No form of fishing offers such elaborate silences as fly fishing for permit,” McGuane wrote. I’ve fly fished for permit exactly one day in my life but, because of McGuane’s story, before I went I felt like I knew what it was going to be like. Whenever I think of that day of permit fishing, I think of The Longest Silence, and vice versa.

For Christmas, Stacey’s mother gifted me a little hardcover copy of Fly Fishing by J.R. Hartley. I was excited enough by the gesture but when she told me that there was a backstory that included a YouTube video, I was especially intrigued - a story about the stories, if you will. Enjoy.

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From Fly Fishing by J.R. Hartley:

Whatever they may say about travelling hopefully having the edge of arriving, there is much to be said for being able to make the comparison. Worth remembering if you’re teaching young people to fish with the fly.