New Fishing Titles from Skyhorse Publishing

Skyhorse Publishing has announced three new fly fishing titles to be released in their fall publishing lineup: “Side Casts: A Collection of Fly-Fishing Yarns by a Guy Who Can Spin Them” by Hoagy B. Carmichael, “Steelhead Country: Angling for a Fish of Legend” by Steve Raymond, and “Brook Trout: A Thorough Look at North America’s Great Native Trout—Its History, Biology, and Angling Possibilities” by Nick Karas.

Read more in the press release below.

New Fishing Titles from Skyhorse Publishing      

Side Casts: A Collection of Fly-Fishing Yarns by a Guy Who Can Spin Them
By Hoagy B. Carmichael; Skyhorse Publishing hardcover; September 15, 2015; ISBN: 978-1-63450-303-7; $35.00

Bamboo-fly-rod–making legend Hoagy B. Carmichael offers unique insight into his life with this original collection of personal stories. Carmichael is a world-renowned expert on fishing tackle with forty years of fly-fishing experience.

With strong and exciting prose, Carmichael takes readers through his early years riding his bike to the local “sport shop of the stars” and those that followed, where he honed not only his passion for fly fishing but also his skills as a rod builder, flyfisherman, and author. In addition to reflecting on his life in fly fishing, Carmichael gives readers a fascinating look into the history of rod making and competitive fishing. His rod-making shop was recently installed on permanent display at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center in Livingston Manor, New York. He lives in North Salem, New York. An artfully crafted and meticulously researched book, Side Casts expertly weaves together elements of memoir, history, and sportswriting.

Steelhead Country: Angling for a Fish of Legend
By Steve Raymond; Skyhorse Publishing paperback; September 22, 2015; ISBN: 978-1-63450-414-0; $19.99

“A beautiful collection of why one man fishes for steelhead. The book will be hard to put aside once you have opened it.”
—Newsday (New York)

In the tradition of Roderick Haig-Brown, Harry Middleton, and John Gierach, Steelhead Country is a collection of thoughtful and sincere essays about a life spent in nature, fishing. It is a personal and lovingly crafted account of a life spent immersed in a tradition that stretches back generations. Critically acclaimed flyfisherman and award-winning author Steve Raymond paints a picture of the world of steelhead trout that is “a realm of vast landscapes, of cold mountain rivers flowing down through silent, shadowed forests . . . of ragged coastlines honeycombed with hidden harbors and secret bays where bright rivers mingle with the sea.”

Raymond traces not just the journey of steelhead along the icy gray rivers of the Pacific Northwest but also his own development as a flyfisherman, recalling following in his father’s footsteps and joining him on quiet waterways. Steelhead Country tells the story of a life in fishing in the same vein as Roderick Haig-Brown’s A River Never Sleeps. Through the joys and challenges of fly fishing for steelhead, Raymond describes and pays tribute to his connection with nature and a great fishing tradition.

Steve Raymond is the author of Rivers of the Heart, Blue Upright, The Year of the Angler, The Year of the Trout, and many more. He was the winner of the Roderick Haig-Brown Award for significant contributions to angling literature, and he was also the editor of the Flyfisher and Fly Fishing in Salt Waters magazines as well as a longtime reviewer of fly-fishing books for several publications. After a thirty-year career as an editor and manager at the Seattle Times, he retired and now lives in Clinton, Washington.

Brook Trout: A Thorough Look at North America’s Great Native Trout—Its History, Biology, and Angling Possibilities
By Nick Karas; Skyhorse Publishing paperback; September 22, 2015; ISBN: 978-1-63450-302-0; $19.99

“This is the kind of book anglers long for: smartly written, free of hyperbole, full of obscure historical tidbits, laced with snatches from old diaries and letters, and enticingly informative (from mere clues to gift-horse treats) on how and where to fish for wild brook trout today.” —Kirkus Reviews

North America has had a four-hundred-year love affair with the brook trout. In this newly revised and updated volume, Nick Karas offers the only major profile of this most beautiful game fish. Brook Trout is a thorough look at the biology, history, , and angling possibilities of the fish affectionately nicknamed the brookie.

Through the eyes of a trained ichthyologist, Karas explores the brook trout’s biology and the events that led to its evolution and distribution. He unravels the controversies surrounding the two largest brook trout ever taken. But the core of this book is the fishery: its past status, current condition, and future. And because the history of brook trout fishing is inseparable from the history of American fishing, Karas follows the development of the rods, reels, lines, lures, and flies that evolved as anglers pursued their fascination with this great game fish.

Nick Karas, a trained ichthyologist and journalist, fished for striped bass from Montauk Point on Long Island to the Strait of Juan de Fuca in British Columbia. He was the author of half a dozen fine books for sportsmen and served as the longtime outdoor columnist for Newsday. Nick Karas lived in Orient Point, New York.