On Trout Streams and Salmon Rivers

essays and musings on fly fishing for native trout

Book Reviews

On Trout Streams and Salmon Rivers – My review at Goodreads.com

By Cutthroat Stalker (Scott) ⋅ September 1, 2008

On trout streams and salmon rivers by Dana Storrs Lamb

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

Dana Lamb was born in 1900 and died in 1986. His major years of fishing were in the heyday of the sport. He lived and fished in New York, rubbing shoulders with some of the top names in fishing on the most famous rivers. As an east coast fisher of this time period, he was involved in sporting clubs and was the president of the Angler’s Club of New York during the 1940’s.

The book is a collection of short (~3-4 pages) narrative pieces about trout and salmon fishing which originally appeared in “The Anglers’ Club Bulletin” or “The Atlantic Salmon Journal.” The book was originally published in 1963 in a limited run of 1500 editions. The book under review is the 1996 Meadow Run Press, limited to 1000 editions. Unfortunately, the pieces are mostly undated. I imagine they are in chronological order, but I’m not sure.

Lamb’s prose hearkens back to a style which puts the reader in the early 1900’s: “We rose with the sun and, thankful for the fire that roared merrily in the stove, enjoyed to the full the hearty breakfast with which Victor regaled us…”

His prose at times is poetic: “August is the dusty month when all day long the sun beats down at double strength and no bird sings at dawn. The soft and sodden salmon, disdainful of the fly, sulk or slide like lizards across the slimy stones of the bottom as, during the interminable afternoons, the heat haze hangs above the mountains and no freshening breeze stirs the leaves at evening.”

On occasions the writing is all about the sport: “I was conscious of a numbness in my wrist whenever there was a pause, and I noted with horror that Perley had neither gaff nor any other landing equipment. But Perley Calhoun is one of the river’s mightiest men, and when, at last, the salmon showed his side a mammoth hand gripped him across the back and lifted him to shore.”

And yet, as time goes on, Lamb also senses the “compassionate” side of the sportsman: “Just as the trees in winter no longer put forth their leaves, so, in the aging gunner or angler the desire to conserve the creatures of the field and stream gradually supplants the desire for a heavy creel or game bag; the ferns, the foliage and flowers; the sound of running water and murmuring wind are things to be wondered at and grateful for.”

The book was most interesting for me as a historical reader, seeing the changes in writing, fishing and conservation from the 1920’s-1960’s.

He recognized the detriment of killing a limit of fish every time out, an idea that is generally credited to Lee Wulff in the late 1930’s with his statement, “Game fish are too valuable to be caught only once.” The idea was slow to take hold, but Dana Lamb echoed those words in some of his writing: “…let us unite in a resolution to put our pride in our pockets, and our salmon back into the stream in the hope and belief that their descendents and ours may happily associate in the days to come.”

One thing evident in the book, especially in the earlier pieces, is what I take to be a more “English” attitude of fly fishing. Many trout and salmon waters in the UK were (are?) privately owned and trout and salmon fishing was mostly for the moneyed and the gentry. The fishing that is most written about in the United States in the late 1800’s through mid-1900’s tends to lean in this direction as well. Although several pieces do focus on Lamb going it alone, there is much writing about “camps” and “clubs.” And entourages of fishermen, guides and gillies frequently appear.

Misc. Notes

I am personally more interested in trout fishing than salmon fishing, and I would say the book seems to lean closer to a 70/30 ratio toward salmon fishing.

Dana S. Lamb is the author of at least 12 books. I believe the first ten listed below deal with fishing and hunting: