Discussing "The Compleat Angler"

"God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling"

~Isaak Walton
 

 

It has been stated that outside of the Bible and the Complete Works of Shakespeare, no book has been published more than The Compleat Angler.  Sadly, it seems very few people read it anymore.  When you hear the author's name, Izaak Walton, you may think of the sportsman club or something named after him.  Without reading the book, you lose the understanding of what elevated him to a position that his name would carry on hundreds of years after his death.  This, to me, is a tragedy.

I too, was an avid fisherman that knew of the name and the book, but both were a mystery.  It would take a Youtube video, discovered in 2011, to motivate me to read it.  My hope is that others will watch the video, prompting them to want to read the book as well.  The video can be seen here (nearly 48 minutes, but captivates from start to finish);
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r2nRfnpWxw

While I don't want to giveaway too much of the book or the wonderful stories and information contained, I do want to provide a bit of commentary.  First, Walton wasn't a purist that just fly fished for trout.  I'm not sure why I had that impression of him, maybe because in his lifetime it was more of a wealthy man's recreation - truly something for gentleman.  I loved the fact that he discusses fishing with bait in great detail.  He also dedicates good portions of the book to species that would be described as 'rough fish' in modern day terms.  For a multi species angler like myself, I loved discovering that him and I were like minded in our appreciation of all fish.

Some reviews of the book will describe it as outdated or irrelevant now.  They couldn't be more wrong.  A great deal of his descriptions of fish and fish behavior are as accurate in 2013 as they were in the 1600's.  It is true that some of his 'science' is off, but it isn't in the areas of catching fish.  When a concept arises that we know not to be true- such as pike being produced by a type of weed- I just found it interesting to learn the prevalent theory of that time.  This just shows the age of the book, but doesn't take away from it.

Watch the video, read the book, you will not be sorry.