A sign at a book stall at the recent Easton Waterfowl Festival caught my eye. Paraphrasing, it said, “Buy a book for Christmas giving — you never heard anybody talk about the tie that changed their life.”
The phrase, both catchy and pithy, immediately took me to my early teens, when I had just started fishing seriously, courtesy of a kindly next-door neighbor and mentor. Receiving books on the outdoors from my parents as Christmas gifts also contributed to making my life what it has become.
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For several Christmases, books from my non-outdoors, non-fishing parents and fly-tying tools from my neighbor were the best gifts. Unknown to me, they were tickets to a life I could only barely imagine.
The gift of fly-tying tools ultimately evolved from an avid hobby and interest to my writing six books on the subject. During my early teens, these fly-tying tools kept me tying — indoors and out of trouble, and interested in fishing.
Fishing books from my parents led me vicariously to worlds of adventure and a desire to enjoy such experiences and exotic travel. Gift subscriptions from relatives to magazines such as Field & Stream, Outdoor Life and Sports Afield further reinforced my love of the outdoors.
Obviously, I have stayed with the outdoors and enjoyed adventures here and in a dozen foreign countries. The vicarious thrills of print became my own real-life adventures.
My first fishing book from my father one Christmas was “Black Bass” by John Alden Knight. New in hard back with dust jacket, it cost $4 in the early 1950s. That book let me dream about bass fishing on the Susquehanna River, fly-rod bass-bugging on North Carolina’s Currituck Sound and fishing the upper Delaware. As with many books of the time it was a mix of narrative, personal experience and dogmatic admonitions.
Other books at other Christmases followed. There was “The Modern Angler” by Knight. And “Bass Tackle & Tactics” by Harold Hollis, “Bass Bug Fishing” By Joe Brooks, “Black Bass Fishing” by Robert Page Lincoln and “Lucas on Bass Fishing” by Sports Afield fishing editor Jason Lucas.
My next-door mentor Fred Klemcke gave me a memorable Christmas with a fly-tying kit that included a vise, bodkin, scissors, bobbin, thread and an assortment of basic hooks and fly tying materials. Along with the tools came a book authored by the bombastic, self-acclaimed expert in all things outdoors, the pompous and affectatious George Leonard Herter. His “Professional Fly Tying and Tackle Manual and Manufacturing Guide” (see what I mean?) was undoubtedly designed to sell the fly-tying materials available in his massive catalog.
Still, at 424 pages, it was then undoubtedly the most complete and thorough fly-tying manual of its time. With changes on the taxonomy of insects and the addition of modern synthetics, it could be a great reprint and updated volume for a current publisher.
Outdoor gifts for any occasion don’t have to be books, magazines or fly-tying tools. Gifts might include a special super-effective turkey call, plans and materials for building a duck boat, or a pop-up tent-style hunting blind. It could be a trip with a freshwater or saltwater fishing captain or waterfowl or deer hunting guide. It could be a tackle box of lures, fly-casting lessons or carving tools for making decoys and creating waterfowl art. It can be almost anything, chosen with forethought, care and love.
The right gift can change a life. And it sure beats a tie.
