Guide Picks: The Best of Sporting Literature

A beloved professor of English at the University of South Carolina, Havilah Babock spent his time outside of the classroom fly fishing, bird hunting, and writing about these two lifelong passions of his. My Health Is Better in November is a collection of thirty-five such hunting and fishing stories, originally put together in 1947. Born in Virginia, Babcock moved to South Carolina in his mid-20s and found the hunting and fishing was so good that he chose to stay. This book is a wonderful portrayal of hunting and fishing in the South, layered with Babcock’s humor and original style of storytelling.

In Lords of the Fly, Monte Burke offers a glimpse into the world of tarpon fishing in Florida during the 1970s. This book tells the story of the gathering of some of the best fly anglers in the world in Homosassa, Florida in pursuit of world-record tarpon. Burke is a tarpon fanatic himself, and Lords of the Fly delves into the growing popularity of tarpon — a fish that has been around for fifty million years, can live to age 80, and can grow to sizes of 300 pounds. If you have any interest in this spectacular gamefish, or the group of world-renowned anglers that came together to pursue it, Lords of the Fly is a must-read.

The Optimist details David Coggins’ fly fishing adventures – from Atlantic salmon in eastern Canada to bonefishing in the salt flats of the Bahamas. Coggins is a Minnesota-born writer, currently living and working in New York City, who fishes and travels as much as he can. In The Optimist, he recounts his fishing experiences in chapters, each one dedicated to a specific location and fish species. This book is insightful, funny, and honest – Coggins does not shy away from sharing the many things that can and do frequently go wrong on a fishing trip. For a smooth-reading introduction to fly fishing in some of the most beautiful places on Earth, The Optimist is a great choice. 

John Gierach, arguably the best fly fishing writer of the 21st century, has authored more than twenty books about his river adventures. Trout Bum was published in 1986, early in Gierach’s illustrious career, but this book has stood the test of time. The collection of essays describing Gierach’s Rocky Mountain fly fishing adventures has become a staple of fly fishing literature and has inspired a wave of anglers that dedicate their lives to fly fishing — true trout bums. Gierach’s essays are witty and perceptive, capturing his fishing trips in wonderful detail and subtly introducing musings about life. Every piece of prose published by John Gierach is worth reading, and Trout Bum serves as an excellent jumping-off point.

Thomas McGuane has been fishing and writing for close to eighty years. McGuane is a true outdoorsman, having spent his life fishing, horseback riding, cattle ranching, and upland hunting with his dogs. Splitting his time between Livingston, Montana and Key West, Florida, McGuane is as passionate about fishing mountain streams as he is fishing saltwater flats. The Longest Silence, published in 2001, is a collection of essays that covers everything from Florida tarpon and Mexico bonefish to Montana trout and Icelandic salmon. McGuane shares his lifetime’s worth of fly fishing knowledge through humorous, unassuming essays; it’s hard to read this book and not want to pick up a fly rod.

Roderick Haig-Brown was a Canadian author and angler who published more than twenty books about fly fishing, most notably A River Never Sleeps. This angling classic includes stories about rivers with which Haig-Brown was intimately familiar, organized into a month-by-month tapestry of a year in his fishing life. From cold winter steelheading to summer sea-run cutthroats, A River Never Sleeps delves into the life that can be found in rivers at all times of year. If you’re in need of some fishing inspiration during the winter months, this book will not disappoint.

Though David James Duncan currently lives and fishes in Montana, much of his writing has to do with his early life in the Pacific Northwest. Duncan was born in Portland, Oregon, the city in which The River Why begins. This book follows Gus Orviston, a young fly fishing phenom who travels to Oregon’s most remote waters to devote his life to the pursuit of trout and steelhead. While it has its fair share of excellent fly fishing moments, The River Why has become a classic due to its exploration of family dynamics, loneliness, and love. If you’re in search of a fishing book that offers more than just fishing, look no further.

No sporting literature list would be complete without A River Runs Through It. While its movie adaptation may have helped kick off the crowding of Montana’s freestone rivers, Maclean’s book is a true classic. Between its iconic first sentence, “In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing,” and its last “I am haunted by waters,” A River Runs Through It tells a profound story of two boys living and learning along Montana’s Blackfoot and Bitterroot rivers. Beneath its exploration of life, death, and family ties, this book has a fly fishing undercurrent that was a constant in Maclean’s life. If you’re looking for a classic entry point into fly fishing literature, this is perhaps the gold standard in fiction.

Be forewarned, reading any of these books has some serious side effects of wanderlust. When the adventure bug hits you, plan your trip with AnyCreek. Our guide partners are the best in the business and have all the knowledge and experience necessary to make your next outdoor adventure a memorable one. Happy reading!