It has been said that there is more written about fly fishing than any other sport. I don’t know how true that is, but I have a couple of hundred books about fly fishing and I that isn’t even scratching the surface of what’s out there. Next to actually fishing, my favorite fishing pastime is reading about fishing. In fact, I read about fishing many more hours a year than actually fishing [note to self—I’ve got to fix that].

Besides reading about fishing, I’ve spent some time trying to write about fishing. I’m no authority on the topic, but I have thought about it enough to try to categorize the types of writing about fly fishing. I’d like to share some of that with you.

Most all the following categories (except the “How-To” and “Guidebook”), to be successful, should take the reader out of the ordinary. Most readers want to be transported in some way, they want a twist on a common theme. They want new insights and thoughts on the familiar. However, some writing is very successful when it focuses on the ordinariness of the place or event because it points out that that ordinariness is actually special or unique.

For anyone interested in halieutics (writing about fishing), you may want to take a look at the categories and determine which category is best for your writing style and experiences—the category where you can provide insights or take the reader beyond the ordinary. Most written pieces merge several of these categories and sub-categories, so it isn’t like you have to pick one thing and stay within the strict confines of that only. But your writing should have a focus. Here is a great article that explains the concept nicely.

I take full responsibility for the list’s inaccuracies, but it will give a basic idea of what kind of writing is out there. This is not expected to be all-inclusive or exhaustive in scope, but a basic outline. Below the categories are some additional notes about each category and a few books that exemplify that category.

• The Fishing
  • dynamic/technical aspects
    • water
    • fish
    • natural flies
    • fly selection
    • casting
  • beauty
  • artistry of casting
  • nature (surroundings, flies, fish, etc.)
• the sport
  • the take
  • the fight
  • the landing (or not)

Frequently tackled in blogs and magazines. If you are going for this category, your writing should be exceptional or have an interesting twist or humor to elevate it from the many pieces that have already been written. It’s hard to avoid clichés when writing in this style, so be extra vigilant with word choice.

• The Trip
  • location/scenery is unusual/different
  • the travel (actually getting there/coming back) is of interest
  • odd/interesting happenings (bad/humorous are usually more interesting to read about because it is unusual)
  • odd/interesting people
    • fishing buddies
    • other anglers
    • people in stores, gas stations, etc. you meet
  • preparing for the trip

The fishing in the piece isn’t as important as the adventure of everything else related to the fishing, whether it is driving, flying or hiking.

Many Rivers to Cross (each chapter is about fishing for native species in tucked away places)

• Place
  • often about fishing one place
    • not the same as a guidebook because this takes into account many different ecological factors or covers a long-term relationship with the place
    • often the fisherman’s home-waters
  • it can be a group of places where each chapter is about a different place
  • often ties in “Musing” or “Stories”

The author narrows in on a specific place. It’s not necessarily about how to get to or fish that place (that’s what a guidebook does). Instead, the author wants us to identify with the place through their experiences in that place. We come to know the place and it’s unique characteristics through the author’s eyes. Sometimes there is an element of longing—the way things used to be or ought to be.

Big Indian Creek (Dave Hughes)
Jerusalem Creek (Ted Leeson)
On the Spine of Time (Harry Middleton)
Trout Reflections (David M. Carroll)

• Musings (the thinking of the fisherman)
  • philosophical
  • explores the mind and reasons
    • why we fish, etc.
  • ethical
    • catch & release
    • environmentalism, etc.
  • spiritual/metaphysical
    • the euphoria/zen-like quality of fly fishing, etc.
  • metaphors/comparisons
    • fishing is like…, etc.
  • the off-season (what happens when there isn’t fishing going on)

Thoughts a fisherman has in relating fishing and life, or fishing to life. Or life to fishing. Anyhow, these are typically thoughtful and weighty pieces, but can also be humorous. When writing these pieces it is easy to get too weighty and overboard. Even stretching metaphors a bit thin. I know I have that problem on occasion when tackling this type of writing.

The Habit of Rivers (Ted Leeson)
Rivers of Memory (Harry Middleton)
Fishing Lessons (Paul Quinnet)

• Stories
  • usually comprised of any of the above categories with strong emphasis on the big two of fiction: characters and plot
  • could be true, but it may only be based on truth with some degree of embellishing for effect
  • often completely fictionalized

The focus is more on the elements of story writing, theme, plot, characters, setting, etc. and the fishing is incorporated into the story. This is some of my favorite fly fishing writing, true literature.

A Place In Mind (Sydney Lea)
The River Why (David James Duncan)
The Earth Is Enough (Harry Middleton)

• Poetry
  • any of the above categories written in verse instead of prose

• How-To
  • cast
  • read water
  • tie flies
  • etc.

•  Informational
  • types of fish
  • styles of knots
  • types of insect

Purely informational: doesn’t tell you what to do, how to do something or where to go.

About Trout (Robert Behnke)
The Stoneflies (Plecoptera) of Utah (Gaufin, Nebeker & Sessions)

Please send me a line if you think I missed a category, or have a different way to categorize this genre. (Please, do NOT drop me a line to tell me about a title I didn’t include, there are thousands of titles I didn’t include.)

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