Full Creel: A Nick Lyons Reader [Hardcover]

Nick Lyons (Author), Mari Lyons (Illustrator), Thomas McGuane (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2000

For years, Nick Lyons has endeared himself to readers by reminding them of why they fish. Now, at last, he has assembled his favorite pieces into a beautifully illustrated collection that will stand as a classic of fishing literature. Drawn from a career that spans over thirty years, the pieces re-create the essence of angling. They capture the meditative rhythm of casting, the burst of adrenaline when a fish strikes, the quiet joy of standing in a river, and the abiding passion for a sport that so often turns into hopeless if benign addiction. Yet Full Creel is much more than a wonderful book about fishing; it is also the summing up of a rich and fascinating life. A husband, father, book publisher, and former English professor, Nick Lyons weaves his personal experiences and knowledge throughout his tales, creating textured ruminations on the links between angling and family, philosophy, and literature. This is an essential book for anyone who enjoys fishing literature. "I love Nick Lyons's books. Every sentence is so full and ripe with whatever it is that keeps us fishing -- and the minute-by-minute surprise and delight of it." -- Ted Hughes; "Nick Lyons is quite simply the tops, in stylish prose, gentle wit, and accumulated wisdom." -- William Warner; "Nick Lyons is a national treasure . . . a writer of literature who fishes, and one of the best we have." -- Harry Middleton.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

One way to judge the quality of an angling writer's work is to put it to this test: does the writer sound like somebody you'd want to go fishing with? For some 30 years now, Nick Lyons--angler, college professor, essayist, and book publisher--has passed the exam effortlessly. A fisherman's fisherman and a writer's writer, Lyons is an acknowledged master of both crafts. Literate, philosophic, passionate, witty, and self-effacing, he has stories to tell and he's skilled in the art of telling them. Who wouldn't want to spend time on the river with this guy?

Through Full Creel, you spend a virtual half lifetime with him. The book is a splendid omnibus, self-culled by Lyons from the seven collections of essays that he's published since 1970. If you've never read him before, this is a perfect volume to wade into; if you're already a fan, the book will remind you why as it flows around the bends of an angler's life from what Lyons calls "the innocent enthusiasms" that marked The Seasonable Angler, his first book, to the more brooding contemplations of an older, wiser, more seasoned human being who loves to fish. This is a man who adores his gadgets, his streams, his family, the traditions of his sport, and the marvelous places fishing takes him--both internally and externally. He can look at a simple fly, as he does in "The Things of Fly Fishing" and deem it a "minor monument" just as he can look at himself in "The Aging Fly Fisher," ponder the good and bad of growing old, and muse, "For it is a happy progression, a seasoning of our timber, from bumbling to skill, from not knowing to knowing ... but never all."

That is the magic of fly fishing, really--however much one knows there's always more to be learned. As Full Creel moves through time, it is evident just how enthusiastic a learner, how genial an observer, and how graceful a writer Lyons has been and continues to be. It makes Lyons, like that beloved fly, something of a minor monument himself, one that, essay by essay, just beckons to be scaled. --Jeff Silverman

From Publishers Weekly

Fly-fishing aficionados know Lyons as one of the more eminent writers and publishers of angling literature. This omnibus gleans the best of his seven fishing books, from 1970's The Seasonable Angler to last year's My Secret Fishing Life. Whether fireside in New York tending his gear or streamside fishing a trout, Lyons is a personable and generous companion. These 80-some essays range widely, from boyhood trespasses on Brooklyn lawns in search of fat earthworms to his uneasy reign as a globe-trotting "bogus expert." While plenty of brooding, introspective pieces by other writers pay tribute to anglers' yearning for solitude and beauty, Lyons avoids the earnest, hermetic solipsism that so often mars the genre. His strongest essays are simple narratives that focus on family and fishing buddiesAmany of them true angling legends. Constant throughout this formidable compendium is Lyons's deeply abiding love (addiction, he rightly calls it) for the chase. He bumbles frequentlyAfalling out of boats, spraying fly dope in his eyes, miring his rental car in sand, fishing without a hookAbut also passes along ample wisdom about fishing and life. The former, he writes, "is merely a lovely, useless activity that, somehow, has become an axial line in my life, an anchor... a magnet for most of what I had to say on any subject." Lyons has plenty to say and he says it with such humility, good humor and perspective that even non-anglers have good reason to fish here. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr (September 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871138131
• ISBN-13: 978-0871138132
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #305,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great collection, November 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Full Creel: A Nick Lyons Reader (Hardcover)

I've enjoyed reading all of Mr. Lyon's books and this volume is a wonderful collection of his essay's. I think that both old fans and those just discovering Mr. Lyons will find a lot of gems here. I especially enjoyed following him on his journey from a young angler with a certain philosophy to a more seasoned angler with a wealth of wisdom to share with others.

This is the type of book that you can read straight through or revisit over and over again.

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetic, beautifully written, March 14, 2011

By 

JanC - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Full Creel: A Nick Lyons Reader (Hardcover)

Wonderful book full of colorful stories on fly fishing, friends and family. Makes even the novice want to grab a rod and get outdoors. A splendid collection!

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Collection!, August 17, 2008

By 

Randy Kadish "Author of The Bad, The Good and... (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Full Creel: A Nick Lyons Reader (Paperback)

If you like reading fly-fishing memoirs you'll love this book. It's a wonderful collection of Nick Lyons' best work. Some of the essays are funny. Some are philosophical. All are well-written. Nick Lyons' love for the sport comes through on almost every page.

Randy Kadish