ABOUT THIS ISSUE

The main theme of this September issue of Angling Echoes, not surprisingly, is memories and remembrances. My daughter has left the nest, so to speak, and is studying in faraway Japan for the next twelve months. Naturally I’m proud of her, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that this move of hers hasn’t caused me to reflect on the past, the present, and the future. Time stand stills for no one, after all.

The feature article this month is a very nostalgic piece about a part of our history that has disappeared: the fishing camp. In this case, the Long Key Fishing Camp in Long Key, Florida — the setting for Fred Elsworth’s fishing adventure with his wife. It’s equal parts personal interest and fishing story. I really enjoyed this piece. Several essays deal directly with the theme of our angling memories. The legendary Thomas Tod Stoddart, a Briton from the Georgian era and a writer of note, discusses his fishing past in a lengthy piece. J.W. Akers gives us an angling reminiscence involving the famed B.F. Meek reel. And Emerson Hough, the popular novelist-turned-fishing writer, discusses the nature of salmon fishing
on the Rogue River.

There are some other pieces rescued from the sands of time. There is an 1886 story of landing a pike (backwards!) on a thin strand of drawn gut for a leader. W.W. Morris invites us along on a trip to Norway to fish for salmon. William Caine explodes the myth of the skill level required to be a good dry fly fisherman. And David Starr Jordan, the legendary educator, shows us how angling was done in Japan at the turn of the twentieth century. The latter piece, of course, hit me particularly hard given my experiences with my daughter.

There were two articles of great interest to me. The first was John T. Spaulding’s discussion of catching his Field & Stream award winning salmon on the Cascapedia. The second is Fred Ellsworth’s article on musky fishing in Wisconsin, a subject near and dear to my heart. I always chuckle whenever I read the advice early writers gave about carrying a revolver when fishing muskellunge. It always takes me back to my youth and going to garage sales with my dad and finding tackle boxes with rusty (and loaded) .22 revolvers in the
bottom.

I always love a good piece of fishing fiction, and thus the story of the Painkiller Automatic Fish Reel Company by Lycurgus is one of my all-time favorites.

There are lots of other pieces of interest, ranging from a huge pike story to a trip through a tackle store in 1885 to a discussion of fishing rods to an early fishing contest. My favorite might well be the story of a New York tackle dealer who, upon seeing a rat in his store, pulled out his pistol and fired at it, only for the bullet to go through the floor and hit his clerk in the back, almost killing him. And of course, we finish this essay with the correspondence of Mary Kefover Kelly on — you guessed it — fishing reels. As always, we would love to hear any feedback you have on Angling Echoes. Please email us at anglingechoes@gmail.com with your kind (or not so kind) comments!

A Monthly Collection of Classic & Forgotten Fishing Literature

DAYS AND NIGHTS AT LONG KEY FISHING CAMP (1915) By Fred B. Elsworth … 1
ANGLING REMINISCENCES (1848) By Thomas Tod Stoddart … 15
A HUGE PIKE (1865) By Anonymous … 34
A STRANGE INCIDENT (1880) By Anonymous … 35
HEELING THE ANGLER (1885) By Anonymous … 36
LANDING A PIKE ON DRAWN GUT (1886) By A.G… 38
A TALK ABOUT RODS (1902) By Anonymous … 44
THE TACKLE AND THE FLY (1904) By Anonymous … 48
FISHING FOR JAPANESE SAMLET IN THE JEWEL RIVER (1902) David Starr Jordan … 49
A DIABOLICAL INVENTION (1905) By Lycurgus … 52
A REMINISCENCE (1914) By J.W. Akers … 66
NORWEGIAN SALMON ANGLING (1907) By W.W. Morris … 74
PRIZES TO HANG UP FOR BEST ANGLERS (1909) By Frank O’Donnell … 82
THE GREAT DRY FLY MYTH (1909) By William Caine … 84
WHILE THE LOG DRIVERS ATE (1911) By John T. Spaulding … 91
ANGLING EXTRAORDINARY (1916) By Emerson Hough … 95
FISHING (1917) by C.L. Gilman … 107
A BASS BUG ANGLERS ASKS ABOUT MUSKIES (1917) by Fred Bradforth Ellsworth … 110
LETTERS FROM MARY: THE CORRESPONDENCE OF MARY KEFOVER KELLY (1977) … 123