The Golden Age of Fly Fishing in America

If we stand on the shoulders of the historic fly fishers and writers who preceded us, then we owe them a debt of gratitude. They bequeathed to us our Modern Golden Age of Fly Fishing. This book explains how, who, when, where, and why this golden age emerged and grew into the modern sport we enjoy today: on both fresh and salt waters. It is where the most exciting wild gamefish survive and take our flies in the most rewarding and quiet sport of all: fly fishing.

Joe Brooks, Lee and Joan Wulff, Lefty Kreh, and Dave Whitlock were foundational leaders in the creation of the Modern Golden Age of Fly Fishing in America, but they share places with a host of others who contributed to our modern sport of fly fishing and the ethical sporting standards they created. I will describe them, their book publishers, and the leadership they provided to us in their writings and educational videos and DVDs. Their followers are mentioned in the Acknowledgments. I fished with many of them, published their articles, and learned the salient, and religious, values of our sport. The simple, bibliographic listings of their books are worth reading, for they contain treasure troves of

fly-fishing information. Fly fishing alone has created the most important library of sporting-fishing books.