The Seasonable Angler: Journeys Through a Fisherman's Year

Sometimes the old stuff is the best stuff. That is certainly the case with Nick Lyons earliest fly fishing collection, The Seasonable Angler. While Lyons recent works are, in the main, slightly different versions of his monthly column in Fly Fisherman Magazine, this slim volume seems fresh and original. Lyons writes about his fish-crazed childhood, about finding time to fish as a young father and family man, and about his evolution from a spin and bait fisherman to the fly rod. There is a wonderful tale about one opening day when Lyons was a little shaver. Loaded down with enough gear to mount an Arctic expedition he takes the train to his favorite river and proceeds to catch "green perch"; in fact, out of season bass...as a somewhat intimidating game warden explains.In The Seasonable Angler there is little of the sanctimony that mars and marks much of what is found in today's fly fishing writing. Lyons is not rabid about "catch and release", he occasionally takes a few fish for the frying pan. Nor is he a "fly rod snob" who groups spin/bait fishermen in the same category as Neanderthals. The writing in this book is fresh, there's barely a whiff of a "formula". The Seasonable Angler feels like writing for writing's sake, not another collection of 1,500 deadline-driven words. Thoughtful, humorous, somewhat nostalgic, this might be my favorite of Lyons works.