Synopsis
Henshall's Book of Black Bass is really three books in one. There are nearly 180 pages devoted to the biology of the Black Basses known at the time. A slightly lesser number of pages in Part Second are focused on the fishing tackle necessary for successful Black Bass fishing. Henshall himself was a leading reel collector when his book was published and his chapters on fishing reels and their development are often quoted and valued by tackle collectors today. [2] The Part Third as Henshall named it is focused on the various fishing techniques to be used in Black Bass fishing to include fly fishing.
Henshall published a companion book entitled More About the Black Bass is 1889 and in 1904 published Book of the Black Bass in a revised 2nd edition that included much of the writings in More About the Black Bass.
In the 1881 Preface, Henshall introduces the book thus:
This book owes its origin to a long-cherished desire on the part of the author, to give to the Black Bass its proper place among game fishes, and to create among anglers, and the public generally, an interest in a fish that has never been so fully appreciated as its merits deserve, because of the want of suitable tackle for its capture, on the one hand, and a lack of information regarding its habits and economic value on the other.
The Book of the Black Bass is of an entirely practical nature, both as regards its subject-matter and its illustrations. It has been written more with a view to instruct, than to amuse or entertain the reader; he will, therefore, look in vain, between its covers, for those rhetorical flights, poetic descriptions or entertaining accounts and pleasing illustrations of the pleasures and vicissitudes of angling, which are usually found in works of this character. Nor is it to be regarded, on the other hand, as a book of a purely scientific nature—far from it—for the author has written as an angler rather than as a naturalist. With these apologies, I trust the reader will not be disappointed in its perusal.
Reviews
- In his book My Angling Friends, Fred Mather, editor of Field and Stream, devoted a whole chapter to Henshall and said this about his book:
But his book, "The Book of the Black Bass," will be all the monument and "obituary" that any man might crave. It is the most distinctively American of any fishing book ever published. It deals with a grand pair of American game fishes which had received scant attention from angling authors; not more than had been accorded to the perch and similar fish until Henshall made the declaration that: "Pound for pound, the black bass is the gamiest fish that swims." Then Americans began to regard these fishes in a new light and Henshall was dubbed "the apostle of the black bass." [3]
James A. Henshall's name will always be associated with the Black Bass. Not alone is the sportsman indebted to him, but the ichthyologist as well for the knowledge of this fish. ... In a masterly manner the author gives the fullest instruction concerning tools, tackle and implements to be used in black bass fishing, and at the conclusion there is to be read a chapter on fly fishing in its broadest sense.
The last word the author has to say is: "Always kill your fish as soon as taken from the water, and ever be satisfied with a moderate creel." In the volume there are to be read the names of many men of science and fisherman, American born, whose memories we cherish. [4]
- Robert Page Lincoln, a noted bass fisherman and angling author of the mid-20th century wrote in his Black Bass Fishing (1952):
Once upon a time in this country there lived an eminent fish culturist, angling authority and traveler. His name was James Alexander Henshall... Henshall was a bass fisherman all his life. Henshall fished the length and breadth of the black bass range in this country and wrote a famous treatise, Book of the Black Bass. He is indeed, the father of bass fishing in this country. [5]
- Ted Kesting, once the editor of Sports Afield compiled Bass Fishing (1962) and introduced Henshall in a chapter entitled 200 Years of Bass Fishing.
And Dr. Henshall wrote a volume in 1881 quite simply entitled Book of the Black Bass which practically clubbed the angling world into accepting bass as one of the world's great sporting fishes. "Inch for inch, pound for pound, the gamest fish that swims," the doctor said in his now-famous dictum. This was the statement that made bass socially acceptable, which they had not been before. [6]
- In American Fly Fishing - A History (1996), Paul Schullery said this about Henshall:
Henshall's writings, especially his Book of the Black Bass (1881), were the best, most comprehensive and scientifically authoritative works on bass for more than sixty years (and how often can that be said of a popular fishing book?), and he championed a good cause, alerting thousands of fly fishers to the sporting possibilities of the basses just as those fish were finding homes in new waters in many parts of the country. [7]
- Will Ryan, author of Smallmouth Strategies for the Fly Rod (1996) wrote about Henshall:
What distinguished Henshall's prose, however was less the technical subject matter than his enthusiasm for the sporting quality of the black bass. "Inch for inch and pound for pound, the gamest fish that swims" does not exactly stand as an equivocal statement, even given the rhetorical nature of magazine writing in the latter part of the nineteenth century. It may be the most quoted line in American sportfishing. And with it, Henshall ensured his place in fishing history as the father of black bass fishing. [8]
A fishing reel is a cylindrical device attached to a fishing rod used in winding and stowing line.
The smallmouth bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family (Centrarchidae) of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus. One of the black basses, it is a popular game fish sought by anglers throughout the temperate zones of North America, and has been spread by stocking—as well as illegal introductions—to many cool-water tributaries and lakes in Canada and more so introduced in the United States. The maximum recorded size is approximately 27 inches and 12 pounds. The smallmouth bass is native to the upper and middle Mississippi River basin, the Saint Lawrence River–Great Lakes system, and up into the Hudson Bay basin. The world record size was 11 lbs and 15 ounces caught in the reservoir Dale Hollow, on the Kentucky—Tennessee border. Its common names include smallmouth, bronzeback, brown bass, brownie, smallie, bronze bass, and bareback bass.
Bass fishing is the activity of angling for the North American gamefish known colloquially as the black bass. There are numerous black bass species considered as gamefish in North America, including largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass or Kentucky bass, and Guadalupe bass. Black bass are members of the sunfish family, Centrarchidae.
Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing, is fishing for pleasure or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is fishing for profit, or subsistence fishing, which is fishing for survival.
This general annotated bibliography page provides an overview of notable and not so notable works in the English language regarding the sport of fly fishing, listed by year of first publication. Although not all the listed books are devoted exclusively to fly fishing, all these titles contain significant fly fishing content. The focus of the present page is on classic general texts on fly fishing and its history, together with notable public or university library collections dedicated to fly fishing.
Frederic Maurice Halford, pseudonym Detached Badger, was a wealthy and influential British angler and fly fishing author. Halford is most noted for his development and promotion of the dry fly technique on English chalk streams. He is generally accepted as "The Father of Modern Dry Fly Fishing". John Waller Hills, A History of Fly Fishing for Trout (1921) called Halford "The Historian of the Dry Fly".
Louis John Rhead was an English-born American artist, illustrator, author and angler who was born in Etruria, Staffordshire, England. He emigrated to the United States at the age of twenty-four.
George Edward MacKenzie Skues, usually known as G. E. M. Skues (1858–1949), was a British lawyer, author and fly fisherman most noted for the invention of modern-day nymph fishing and the controversy it caused with the Chalk stream dry fly doctrine developed by Frederic M. Halford. His second book, The Way of a Trout with a Fly (1921) is considered a seminal work on nymph fishing. According to Dr Andrew Herd, the British fly fishing historian, Skues:
was, without any doubt, one of the greatest trout fishermen that ever lived. His achievement was the invention of fly fishing with the nymph, a discovery that put a full stop to half a century of stagnation in wet fly fishing for trout, and formed the bedrock for modern sunk fly fishing. Skues' achievement was not without controversy, and provoked what was perhaps the most bitter dispute in fly fishing history.
Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream and Kindred Studies is a fly fishing book written by G. E. M. Skues published in London in 1910. Minor Tactics was Skues's first book and set the stage for his ascendancy as the inventor of nymph fishing for trout.
Floating Flies and How to Dress Them - A Treatise on the Most Modern Methods of Dressing Artificial Flies for Trout and Grayling with Full Illustrated Directions and Containing Ninety Hand-Coloured Engravings of the Most Killing Patterns Together with a Few Hints to Dry-Fly Fishermen is a fly fishing book written by Frederic M. Halford published in London in April 1886 by Sampson Low. A deluxe edition on large paper sold out before publication and the trade edition of 500 nearly so.
The Salmon Fly - How to Dress It and How to Use It is a fly fishing book written by George M. Kelson published in London in 1895 by Messers. Wyman & Sons, Limited. This Victorian guide to fly fish tying built up the illusion that angling for salmon required feathers of exotic bird species.
A Book on Angling – Being a complete treatise on the art of angling in every branch is a work of angling literature with significant fly fishing content written by Francis Francis, angling editor to The Field and published in London in 1867 by Longmans, Green and Company.
This annotated bibliography is intended to list both notable and not so notable works of English language, non-fiction and fiction related to the sport of fly fishing listed by year published. Although 100% of any book listed is not necessarily devoted to fly fishing, all these titles have significant fly fishing content. Included in this bibliography is a list of species related fly fishing literature.
This annotated bibliography is intended to list both notable and not so notable works of English language, non-fiction and fiction related to the sport of fly fishing listed by year published. Although 100% of any book listed is not necessarily devoted to fly fishing, all these titles have significant fly fishing content. Included in this bibliography is a list of fly tying, fly tackle, regional guides, memoirs, stories and fly fishing fiction related literature.
Fly Fishers International is an international 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in Livingston, Montana. Since 1964, Fly Fishers International (FFI) has been an organized voice for fly fishers around the world. They represent all aspects of fly fishing, from the art of fly tying and casting to protection of the natural systems that support healthy fisheries and their habitats, which is essential to the sport. Today, the organization's mission is to ensure the legacy of fly fishing for all fish in all waters. They focus on conservation, education, and a sense of community.
Dry-Fly Fishing in Theory and Practice (1889) is British author and angler Frederic M. Halford's second and most influential book on dry fly fishing. It followed Floating Flies and How to Dress Them (1886) and this pair of books initiated some 40 years of a rigid, and sometimes dogmatic school, the Halfordian school, of dry fly fishing, especially on English chalk streams. The work also played a significant role in the development of dry-fly fishing in America.
James Alexander Henshall was an author on fishing. He was known as the "apostle of the black bass". His book Bass, Pike, Perch and other Game Fishes of America (1903) is part of the American Sportsman's Library.
Fly Fishing, first published in 1899 by English author and diplomat Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon (1862–1933), is a book about fly fishing English chalk streams and spate rivers for trout and salmon. It includes reminisces about the author's fly fishing experiences on Hampshire rivers. The book was in print for nearly 50 years and has been extensively reprinted in the 21st century.
The American Angler's BookEmbracing the Natural History of Sporting Fish and the Art of Taking Them with Instructions in Fly-Fishing, Fly-Making, and Rod-Making and Directions for Fish-Breeding, to which is appended Dies Piscatoriae Describing Noted Fishing-Places, and The Pleasure of Solitary Fly-Fishing is an early American angling book by Thaddeus Norris (1811-1877) first published in 1864. Norris was known as Uncle Thad and commonly referred to in American angling history as "The American Walton".
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