Neversink: One Angler's Intense Exploration of a Trout River

Observes the ecology of a favorite trout fishing stream, and discusses stream improvement and hybrid trout

Wright's "intense exploration" of his home stream in New York State's Catskill Mountains yields a scientific and literary angling book that is placed firmly in the tradition of the 19th-century bon amateur. Wright's quest is for more and bigger Salvelinus fontinalis, the distinctly North American char, in the water he first rents, then owns, on the Neversink, arguably the "First River" of American flyfishing. The gentle diary-like tone of his report belies an angling passion that propels Wright from observation of small details made while fishing into wider inquiry that calls upon 20 years of experiments in stream improvements, stocking and feeding. Like Wright's recent how-to books (especially the underrated Superior Flies ), this account offers up odd angling epiphanies in an urbane writing style. In Wright's case, familiarity with a river breeds endless wonder.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Not just another rod-and reel-romance, this expert angler's well-told story of learning to husband a trout stream is a keeper. Wright (a contributor to Esquire, Sports Afield, Field and Stream, etc.) realizes a 20-year dream of fishing the Neversink River when he rents a 250-acre estate with one mile of the river flowing through it. (Running through a high Catskill Mountains valley, the Neversink is one of the finest eastern trout streams.) After his first excited forays, Wright begins improving his stream by stocking hatchery-raised brown trout, but he soon discovers that tank-raised fish have had shyness, territoriality, and all survival traits bred out of them. Worse, they are disgustingly easy to catch, rising to almost any fly-- particularly those that resemble Purina fish pellets. Wright's experiments quickly become more sophisticated, beginning with ordering eggs of exotic trout subspecies from Alaska and planting them in the freezing December river. Along the way, Wright describes the initial exploitation of the Neversink as a private resource by a wealthy New Yorker who bought a hotel on its banks and claimed riparian rights. Native sons of the Neversink Valley furiously resented being shut off from their river and redoubled their fishing, although high-powered lawyers imported from New York brought them to heel. Wright, who eventually bought ``my water,'' avers that the present-day locals feel no resentment for the summer people. He does catch the occasional poacher: One 18- year-old compounded his trespass by fishing with a worm and was turned into the local authorities ``for processing.'' Although the year-round residents lack ``color and charm,'' there have been many notable visitors, including Theodore Gordon, who launched dry-fly fishing in America in 1890. Sadly, the underprivileged Gordon ``never owned any water'' and actually preferred ``public to private fisheries.'' Highly informative on the natural history of brook trout, the eternally evolving life of the trout stream, and the tiny world of top-drawer troutists. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

River memoirs (e.g., W.D. Wetherall's Vermont River , Winchester, dist. by New Century Pubs., 1984) are a traditional part of trout and fly fishing literature. Wright, the well-respected author of Fishing the Dry Fly as a Living Insect (Lyons & Burford, 1988) among other titles, writes of the 12-mile stretch of New York's storied Neversink River, the favored waters of legendary fly fishing writers Theodore Gordon and Edward Hewitt. Wright's affection for his "home river" is clearly evident in his description of the stream, its denizens, and its environs. His study will be of particular interest to fly fishers of the Northeast, but may also be enjoyed by those of any region who have a close relationship with a fast-moving body of water. For medium and large fly fishing collections.
- David Panciera, Westerly P.L., R.I.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.