The Seasons of a Fisherman: A Flyfisher's Classic Evocations of Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter Fishing [Hardcover]

Roderick L. Haig-Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2000

"Not only a naturalist of obvious authority, but the master of sinewy prose."--The New Yorker

"Haig-Brown is a star of the first magnitude."--Outside Magazine

Roderick L. Haig-Brown is one of the world's most beloved fly-fishing writers: His classic books bring together exquisite prose, the full romance and beauty of fishing, and much solid angling advice.

Here, for the first time in one volume, are his popular seasons books: Fisherman's Spring, Fisherman's Summer, Fisherman's Fall, and Fisherman's Winter. They chronicle a fisherman's year, from the brightening days of spring through a loving portrait of the author's home rivers in British Columbia during the summer, and on into the excitement of fall fishing and a winter away from his Campbell River to fish the great rivers of Argentina and Chile.

As Verlyn Klinkenborg has said, "I think it forms some sort of watershed experience in every angler's reading when he comes upon Roderick Haig-Brown for the first time." And so it does. The Seasons of a Fisherman is an excellent place to start.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Logger, trapper, guide, magistrate, army officer, radio broadcaster, conservationist, and university chancellor, Roderick L. Haig-Brown, the multitalented Renaissance man of North American angling, considered himself first and foremost a writer. Given the overall quality, range, depth, and grace of The Seasons of a Fisherman, it would be awfully hard to argue. This marvelous volume, which collects four of his best-loved classics between one set of covers for the first time, should elegantly introduce Haig-Brown, who died in 1976, to a new generation of outdoors enthusiasts as it reintroduces him to his old angling friends.

Originally written in the early '50s, the four books wade into an angler's summer, winter, spring, and fall, and while each muses over what a particular season requires of the fisherman, none is just about fishing; Haig-Brown never limited himself. These books are about his beloved British Columbia, the environment as a whole, its repetitive rhythms, and the angler's place in it. They are about fishing stories; the traditions of fly-fishing; and how to catch fish, tie flies, and observe the natural world. Fishing, in Haig-Brown's cosmos, was more than just the pursuit of fish: it was the full, wide-ranging engagement of the mind and the senses.

Listen to the litheness of his prose from "Fisherman's Spring," the first of the four sections, as he ponders the worthiness of the endeavor:

It is ... something more than a sport. It is an intimate exploration of a part of the world hidden from the eyes and minds of ordinary people. It is a way of thinking and doing, a way of reviving the mind and body, that men have been following with growing intensity for hundreds of years.

This is just a taste of what "Seasons" overflows with, as is this admission--is there an angler who can't share it?--from "Summer": "I am beginning to find it very salutary to remember just how much 'happening right,' if not downright luck, there has been in nearly all my little triumphs." As a book, Seasons is a big enough triumph to become a dog-eared cornerstone of your fly-fishing library. --Jeff Silverman

From Library Journal

With spring within sight, fly fishers are beginning to inspect their gear carefully, feeling their lines for nicks and weak spots, testing hook sharpness, and checking waders for holes, all in anticipation of that first magic day out. Haig-Brown has long been a favorite read among anglers, and this volume combines his four standard volumes, Fisherman's Spring (1951), Fisherman's Summer (1959), Fisherman's Fall (1964), and Fisherman's Winter (1954), into a single, beautiful hardcover. Haig-Brown's writings are always in season.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 550 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Pr; First Edition edition (July 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585740934
• ISBN-13: 978-1585740932
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,239,964 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks for bringing these back!!, October 24, 2000

By 

"puppypokey" (Northcountry) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Seasons of a Fisherman: A Flyfisher's Classic Evocations of Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter Fishing (Hardcover)

This collection of Haig-Brown is not necessarily his best works, but all of his books are near impossible to find and the republication of these four books is a godsend to anyone who enjoys reading about a true nature lover!

Ted Leeson's introduction provides a little background on Haig-Brown. As an expert outdoorsperson himself, he was the right choice to do the job!

Every nature lover MUST have Haig-Brown in their collections.

5.0 out of 5 stars Haig-Brown at His Finest, March 3, 2009

By 

Steven Chappell "fly fisher, golfer" (New Castle, Indiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Seasons of a Fisherman, 4-cd set (Audio CD)

Roderick Haig-Brown is one of the finest fly fishing writers ever to grace a page. The Seasons of a Fisherman is actually a collection of previous literary efforts from Haig-Brown; Fisherman's Spring, Fisherman's Summer, etc. All were classics in their own right, but they are especially significant together. This four cd collection is an abridged version (Four hours and thirty minutes), yet hits the highlights of the original book exceptionally well. Haig-Brown was an Englishman transplanted to Vancouver Island, Canada, and he writes of his adventures casting a fly along the Campbell River. There is something very relaxing about the way Haig-Brown writes, and if you don't have time to read the book (or travel as I do), you'll find the cd version most enjoyable.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Seasons of a Fisherman, March 27, 2007

By 

Ofishal (British Columbia, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Seasons of a Fisherman (Paperback)

This book is written from the personal experiences of a life lived on and in the water. Haig Brown's love of fish is evident. Recommended for lovers of fish and their habitat.