Customer Reviews

The Atlantic Salmon Handbook: An Atlantic Salmon Federation Book

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Atlantic Salmon Handbook seems to cover most of the basics reasonably well, although I was still left with some questions after reading it. Also, the author's chatty style leads to numerous digressions that distract the reader and make the book less organized and more difficult to read. I would suggest checking into alternatives to the Atlantic Salmon Handbook, but if none is available, this book is "good enough for government work."

This book covers all aspects of Atlantic Salmon fishing with clear and experienced explanations .

A must for advanced and beginners !

I have fished for Atlantic salmon on and off for the last 20 years. Every time I decide to renew my interest in hunting this most exquisite of species, I take along a friend new to the salmon fishing sport. Without question, Bodo's book is the best primer I've read, although no substitute for Lee Wulff's or other salmon devotees' and experts' treatises, most of which are written for the non-beginners amongst us.

Ann McIntosh

Monkton, MD

April 20, 2011

annmac20@aol.com

Peter Bodo's book is a useful introduction to the quest for salmo salar, the magnificent Atlantic salmon whose leaps at the end of a fly line in Eastern Canada (sadly, the great beast is now effectively gone from US waters), once seen, turn otherwise sane people into obsessives. In a few, easily-understood pages, Mr. Bodo manages to convey the objectively ridiculous but subjectively addictive passion excited by the expensive, often uncomfortable and usually fruitless effort to entice a fish that doesn't eat in fresh water to bite at a fly so that the angler, if all goes well, can bring it close enough to let it go.

Since, as Mr. Bodo freely admits, angling skill has only the most tenuous relationship to success in establishing the brief connection between man and fish the law permits, there is something poignantly other-worldly in the author's lucid exposition of flies and techniques employed on the great Canadian salmon rivers; his real message is: "It's about fishing, not catching fish." And having seen a few of the silver-black behemoths tail-walk a Miramichi pool before spitting out my feathered enticement, I know he's right.

Bodo removes much of the mystery (and some of the mystique) from fly fishing for Atlantic salmon in a straightforward and virile style. As one getting started (at last!) I found this book very helpful, especially in times of year, access, equipment, flies, and the basics of fishing with classic methods. I expect to become aware of the more arcane subtleties involved in persuading a salmon to take a fly, but I think I can at least begin on a solid footing--without spending a king's ransom for flies and other equipment. The mysteries can come later, on the water.

Bodo removes much of the mystery (and some of the mystique) from fly fishing for Atlantic salmon in a straightforward and virile style. As one getting started (at last!) I found this book very helpful, especially in times of year, access, equipment, flies, and the basics of fishing with classic methods. I expect to become aware of the more arcane subtleties involved in persuading a salmon to take a fly, but I think I can at least begin on a solid footing--without spending a king's ransom for flies and other equipment. The mysteries can come later, on the water.

This is the best modern introductory book for Atlantic Salmon fishing, and the one least likely to lead you astray. That said it has some severe limitations, mostly from brevity - works by Joe Bates, Charles Phair, and Lee Wulff would be worthwhile to explore.