The most written about sport in the world is fishing. It’s not baseball, football or basketball, and fishing takes in more U.S. dollars than do those top three, in that order, watcher sports combined. There would be more fishing and hunting news in the newspapers if there was more gambling money invested in school tournaments. Fortunately, this is not yet rampant.
Many sports taught in our schools, both public and private, are not performed once students graduate. Schools are supposed to teach classes on things we will do as adults. In sports, it’s most likely we take up a sport that we’ll never do again after our schooling. Most spend their time playing football in school only to fulfill their pro football careers not on the bench but on the proverbial couch. Yet, these “ballgames” are the gambling sports and in the case of football, the sport getting the TV coverage, are bringing in the money to help support the hardly attended other sports operating in the red, such as soccer, tennis, golf, etc.
Golf, bowling and tennis are lifelong sports. Our favorite lifetime sport brings in the most Wisconsin tourists’ dollars after birding, which includes many anglers, and it is often not taught in schools. So we do our reading in a period I call “school afterlife.”
STEELHEAD FISHING ESSENTIALS; A COMPLETE GUIDE TO TECHNIQUES & EQUIPMENT by Marc Davis, Frank Amato Publications, Inc., $29.95, 168 pages with a 100 minute DVD. Steelhead provide plenty of action both in Lake Michigan and in the tributaries during spawning seasons. They are rated by many anglers as one of the best fighting freshwater fish, and they are tasty. Davis’ book puts anglers in the water with their quarry. The DVD brings in other experts along with Davis to show us the techniques, tackle, and fishing action as it really is.
THE GREATEST FLY FISHING AROUND THE WORLD; TROUT, SALMON, AND SALTWATER FISHING ON THE WORLD’S MOST BEAUTIFUL WATERS by various outdoor writers, with a foreword by noted fly fisherman and publisher Nick Lyons, and photography by R. Valentine Atkinson, The Lyons Press, $29.95, 328 pages. This is a full color, softcover tome that also doubles as a coffee table book. Many of the over 300 photos are breathtaking. The techniques and methods are quite usable in Wisconsin. There’s even an article from noted Western writer Zane Grey, who wrote numerous fishing articles. In this hefty book, we travel the world in search of the best fly fishing, and we bring back these techniques to take fish in Wisconsin. Have a good trip.
L.A. Van Veghel is an Examiner from Milwaukee. You can see L.A.'s articles on L.A.'s Home Page.
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