Customer Reviews

The Compleat Surfcaster (An American Littoral Society Book)

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This book would be a good read for someone who never fished salt water and had little or no experience with fresh water fishing. The writing style is capable of keeping your interest, but the subject matter is far too broad to be of use to anyone who owns more than one fishing rod. Information is somewhat outdated as well (1989).

I could have done without a chapter on driving on the beach. An in-depth discussion of tides and weather would have been more welcome. I fish the Texas coast, so I really don't need an entire chapter on staying warm and dry in waders. The brief discussion of knots and rigging would have been better if aimed at applications and techniques for various rigs rather than cursory how-to`s. No short chapter can teach you how to tie 20# test mono so it will hold a 30# fish.

The illustrations sometimes occur many pages after the text references and page references are inaccurate. Image quality is poor and many of the photographs belong in a family photo album, not in a fishing reference.

If you don't fish and just want to take the kids to the pier during vacation this summer, get this book. Otherwise, keep looking.

I agree with "Mystic's" review. If you are looking for just some generalized information about surfcasting, this is a nice little intro. It's handy to have on your bookshelf; but it is by no means a "Compleat" look at the subject. Novices will come away with too much generalization to make good decisions, and experienced surfcasters won't find the detail they need to confront specific issues about tackle, fish species or techniques. Like too many "how to" publications, it's written with an orientation toward East Coast lore, techniques, attitudes, and species of fish. If you fish the Pacific Coast, this book will add nothing to your knowledge, and will in fact mislead you. Yes, the information is dated, but since surfcasting books are VERY rare, this one gets points for just attempting to cover the subject. It's a book to have, but treat it as an introductory primer only.

An Antique book with antique photos of antique equipment. The rigging shown in the book are old but still work. As are the knots. The lures shown would made good museum pieces. The best part is that the techniques discussed in the book are still valid and informative. I have added over 50 feet to my casts using the methods shown in the book. I got what I wanted from this book. Someone else may not. I bought it used for $5 shipped.