2009 Fall Book Mailer newsletter
If you're not on our postal mailing list, use the below link
free! request one today!

~new releases~

METALHEAD: Fish Bum Vol. II by AEG (Trout Bum Diaries) Experience the journey, adventure, and lifestyle of five fish bums on an epic five month fly fishing expedition across British Columbia in search of the hottest freshwater fish you can catch on a fly rod. The last in the series from AEG (Trout Bum Diaries), Metalhead chronicles the epic journey of five fish bums and their friends as they travel to remote Northwestern wilderness in search of legendary steelhead — the hottest freshwater fish you can catch on a fly rod and also a fish whose survival hangs in the balance. Filmed as an adventure documentary, the fish bums face the challenges of mother-nature, border police and Giardia. This untamed and majestic land offers the best opportunity for an angler to hook into a wild trophy steelhead. If you are lucky enough to land one these incredible fish, you will be forever changed. Follow the dedication, obsession and insanity that drive steelheaders to pursue a fish that is not in the river to feed, a fish known as Metalhead. —watch the trailer— DVD; Filmed entirely in High Definition; 60-min.; $29.99

BUGWATER by Arlen Thomason BugWater: that soggy place inhabited by creepy, crawly, hopping, flying, wriggling creatures we call, if imprecisely, bugs. This is a book about bug-water, the bugs living or falling into such places, and the fish that eat them. Trained as a biologist, Arlen Thomason began to study bugs in earnest when he retired and moved to the banks of the McKenzie River. He got serious about studying bug behavior and taking first-rate photographs of what he was discovering. Viewed up-close the bugs presented striking visages, forms, and colors. Thomason’s stunningly detailed photos and fascinating narratives showcase 23 categories of bugs. Organized around the seasons, BugWater follows the bugs and the trout through their life cycles from spring through winter. With the author’s insights as both a scientist and fly fisher and his expertise as a photographer, this book delivers solid content all fly fisher’s can learn from. • Covers all popular trout foods — mayflies, caddis, stoneflies, midges • Startling, spectacular photos of the bugs up close Hardcover; 337 color photos, 7 b&w illus; 8.5x11 inches, 224 pgs.; $39.95

FLY TYING MADE CLEAR AND SIMPLE II: ADVANCED TECHNIQUES by Skip Morris The original Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple has been an unqualified hit. Now in its 22nd printing, it has remained among the top-selling fly-tying books consistently for 18 years—a miraculous achievement. Now this follow-up volume, Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple II, takes off where the original ends. It is truly, as its subtitle proclaims, a book of advanced fly-tying techniques. Those techniques are explained and demonstrated in simple steps with concise instructions, along with lots of color photographs and sections offering strategies and suggestions for improving your skills and overcoming problems. But you’ll learn more than valuable tying techniques here; you’ll also learn to tie some highly effective and fascinating flies, such as the lifelike Anatomical Green Drake, the ultra-popular Copper John, an assortment of deadly emerger-flies, the Bitch Creek with its intriguing woven body, and a current version of the surreal Chernobyl Ant that’s taken so many big trout. If you haven’t read the original book, don’t worry—Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple II stands on its own; everything you need is here. If you have even modest experience with tying flies, you can pick up straight away with this volume. This is the book that will get you tying like a pro, at a level you probably thought was beyond your potential. Welcome to the big-leagues. Spiral-Softcover; Full color; 8.5x11 inches, 148 pgs.; $24.95

FLY-FISHING SECRETS OF THE ANCIENTS A CELEBRATION OF FIVE CENTURIES OF LORE AND WISDOM by Paul Schullery Modern fly-fishing is only the latest chapter in a two-millennia saga of technological creativity and passionate observation of the natural world. In Fly-Fishing Secrets of the Ancients, historian-naturalist Paul Schullery explores the earlier chapters in that saga and unearths a host of provocative theories, techniques, and insights that helped shape the modern fly-fisher. Schullery demonstrates that whether we're looking for a good fish story, a clearer understanding of why we fish the way we do, or even a way to improve our own sport, we ignore our elders at our peril. Fly-Fishing Secrets of the Ancients offers the beginning fly-fisher an unprecedented opportunity to come to terms with some of the sport's most fundamental theoretical and practical challenges. It offers the expert fly-fisher a chance to test current angling dogma – and his or her own pet theories – against that of the sport's greatest past masters. Plus it offers all readers a fresh, probing, and often-humorous take on the great endless fish story we perpetuate and enrich every time we cast a fly. Hardcover; 96 halftones; 6x9 inches, 272 pgs; $29.95

BASS: THE MOVIE by Howard Films —watch the trailer— This year Howard Films went on a road trip for America's most infamous underwater creature: The Largemouth Bass. They wanted to see this fish up close & personal, but were not sure how it could have the drama of a saltwater fish haunting white-sand flats. They spent a year looking around for the right place to start our odyssey. And, unlike Location X, they do publicly reveal the locations. Ever wonder where big bass go when they don't want to be found? The California Delta. A fabled labyrinth of waterways in inland California that will get an angler lost, and where big fish can be found, If you are with someone who knows where to search! Howard Films joined Delta resident and renowned pro bass angler Bobby Barrack on his favorite water (without blindfolds) as well as Delta fly pro Kevin Doran and angler John Sherman. What they saw still keeps them up late at night looking at maps of the mysterious California Delta and talking about it. It's not every day one finds surfers and Pacific Ocean waves on the way to a Bass honey hole! DVD; 2-disc set; 3 hours, 10-min.; $26.95

RISE: THE MOVIE
by Confluence Films

—watch the trailer—

This new film is Rise – a six segment collection of individual stories shot around the world; stories that together truly reflect the attraction that fly fishing has for all of us.Shot on location in the Florida Keys, Argentina, the Henry's Fork in Idaho, New Orleans & Southeast Louisiana, Venezuela, and the Katmai Region of Alaska. RISE is a stunning full-length film, photographed entirely on 16mm film and mastered in HD. Featuring: Rene Harrop, Rance Rathie, Travis Smith, Capt. Bruce Chard, Ron Sorensen, Mike Lawson, Capt. Bryan Carter and more.

Just 10 days after Confluence Films started shipping Drift DVD's by the truckload, they began shooting the next Confluence Films Production. They loaded up the camera's and headed to Venezuela to chase the legendary bonefish of Los Roques. The trip was full of fish on literally every flat waded, and according to the locals this is a slow time for bonefish – they certainly didn't notice as they locked into the biggest fish wading just a few steps from town. The entire archipelago is stunning, crystal clear water with great people and millions of big, powerful bonefish.

DVD; 70-min.; $29.95

DEAD RENEGADE
by Victoria Houston

Solving all of the problems currently facing Loon Lake keep Lew and Doc busy and Ray Pradt also lends a hand. Ray is always on hand to help Lew in her investigations and first in line to charm the ladies. There is a lot going on in this 10th book in the Loon Lake series. Dead Renegade can be read as a stand-alone but each book in the series is well worth reading.

A sunny Thursday heading into the Fourth of July and retired dentist, Doc Osborne, is helping his daughter, Erin, who has just opened her own legal practice. They are assisting an elderly client of Erin’s reclaim an antique chest from an uncooperative antique dealer when Doc Osborne stumbles over a rug and human remains tumble onto the floor.

Murder, mayhem and fishing: once again Loon Lake has all the action.

"Houston is one smart writer: She traps us in the same chilling environment as her characters so we feel what they feel -- and fear what they fear. And soon, whether we're in the comfort our study or in a lounge chair at the beach, we hear the threatening growl of a killer beast and begin pondering the possibility of murder."
—Jim Fusilli, Award-Winning author of Hard, Hard City

Softcover; 272 pages; 5.5 x 8.5; $14.95

THE FLY ROD CHRONICLES
A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS ON THE QUIET SPORT OF FLY FISHING
by Richard Landerman

Author Richard Landerman takes random, everyday musings and weaves them together with humor and substance using the common thread of fly fishing. His candid ruminations over such topics as life, death, sex, international politics, dentist's chairs, religion, art, literature, shaving lotion, lemon meringue pies, mustaches, growing up, skunks, and weather reporters will surely entertain you, cause you to reflect, and most certainly - itch to grab a fly rod. The Fly Rod Chronicles is a tapestry of a simple and provident life; an absorbing look back at the sport of fly fishing and one man's fifty year pursuit of this quiet pastime.

Softcover; b&w line drawings; 6x9 inches, 207 pgs. $14.95

TROUTFLY
COURAGE AND SACRIFICE OF FATHERS AND SONS
by R. G. Dierks

—search inside the book (provided by Amazon.com)—

Clayton Harcourt's quiet life in a remote Idaho cabin comes to an abrupt end when the memory of his father's sacrifice in Vietnam lures him back into the espionage game. A global terrorist network threatens a presidential election. Intrigue, conspiracy, greed, and corruption spread from Cairo, Riyadh, Hong Kong, London, and around the world to Washington DC. The nation's capital is under siege. TOVAIR’s deceptive maneuvers roil capital markets. Elected officials are in harms' way. Only the dedication and loyalty of quiet professionals can avert a national disaster. Courage, leadership and honor transcend generations linking fathers and sons in the quest to preserve freedom and Western civilization.

Softcover; 8x5 inches, 362 pgs.; 17.99

NORTH OF EASIE
by Robert J. Romano, Jr.

I enjoyed this novel of small town life in Western Maine and its cast of quirky characters. I think I could live very happily in the town of Easie. Not that life is very easy, but some places where there are fish to be caught, and good friends and family to be had, sure make it all easier . . . Alright, enough on easy. Robert Romano has been showcased in the Book Mailer with two previous titles, Fishing with Faeries and Shadows in the Stream. His third book captures a lot of life situations, but focuses much on the fishing and fishing companions. The size of the fish doesn’t matter, it's all about the time we take to chase them and the history that becomes our life. This is Bob’s first novel and the flying squirrel and black lab make good company for a cast of very individual human beings.

“Romano brings us nature as nurturer, the chemistry and characters of the small town, the restorative powers of fishing, and a sense of place that rings true.”
—Joseph Heywood, author of The Snow Fly and the Woods Cop series

All books are autographed and include a book mark. This is a small press release, so collectors take note. —STAFF PICK—

Softcover; Cover by John Swan; 6x9 inches, 220 pgs.; #B4684; $20.00

exclusive! We offer the full line of leaders
over 150 different
weights, lengths & colors!
—available for all types of fishing—
trout, steelhead, salmon, bass, bonefish, redfish, striper, snook, tarpon (also visible practice leaders)
download the full listing

FLOATING
FULL SINKING • UNIFORM SINKING
new! STREAMER • new! STRIKE INDICATOR

ONCE IN A BLUE MOON
produced by On The Fly Productions

go beyond~ the run-of-the-mill "fish porn"
on a scale of 1:10 — this is a 12 "

—watch the trailer—
The incredible story of a once in a lifetime event.

Set amongst the spectacular scenery of southern New Zealand, a most strange and bizarre tale unfolds. The stuff of folklore, Once in a Blue Moon unravels the mystery of an event that occurs briefly once a decade. In an unpredictable chain of events a mass flowering of the ancient New Zealand Beech forest leads to an excess of seed production. Mice and rodents take advantage of this abundance and numbers reach plague proportions. Incredible footage follows these rodents as they embark on a strange migration, attempting to swim across the expanse of New Zealand's rivers and lakes. There they fall prey to the largest predators in the lake—monster Brown trout. Gorging themselves on swimming mice, these fish become extremely aggressive and grow to epic proportions. This bizarre phenomenon has remained a mystery... until now.

Shot in beautiful high definition, Once in a Blue Moon reveals this bizarre story. Stunning cinematography, never before seen underwater footage, fantastic fly fishing and amazing trout behavior will take you deep into the tale of the fabulous and mysterious “Mouse Year”.

High-Definition DVD; 38-min.; $29.95

TARPON
with authors:
Richard Brautigan,
Jim Harrison, Thomas McGuane

original music written & performed by Jimmy Buffet

"Like the fish itself,
this is a work of art..."
—Carl Hiaasen

—watch the trailer—
DVD; 53-min.; $34.95

WHY FLY FISHING
with Joan Wulff, Flip Pallot, Nick Lyons, John Gierach, and others

Share with those who have never or seldom experienced the rewards of fly fishing—why we as "low-level fanatics" (John Gierach's words) behave the way we do.
—watch the trailer—
DVD; 31-min.; $30.00 (includes shipping; $25 tax-deductible donation to the American Museum of Fly Fishing)