Since I'm wearing my Amazon hat today, I would be remiss if I didn't share this gem with you. I know most of you think of westerns when you hear "Zane Grey" and glaze over with a silent "puleeze", but his real love was the sea and fishing, spending 300 days a year on his boat.
A friend and fishing enthustiast with a restored Portuguese fishing boat recommended Grey's fishing books and I just finished his "Tales of The Angler's El Dorado, New Zealand" published in 1953, it's a keeper. In all fairness I must disclose that I become violently sea-sick on the open ocean in small boats and do not share Grey's zeal for standing hip-deep in ice cold streams either, but thoroughly enjoyed his pursuits from my warm and cosy armchair.
Peter Jackson put New Zealand on everyone's short must-visit list, but New Zealand's clear, cold streams have long been known to fly fishing enthusiasts, Grey among them. Zane Grey conjures up an adventure story and a fishing story at once in his pursuit of trout and swordfish. Fishermen will be as happy as a box of budgies with the full-page monochrome photos and Grey's fishing tales will leave all wanting more.
I visited Zane Grey's house on Santa
Catalina Island, and I co-authored some
articles about his treatment of Mormons
in fiction. But it may be a while before I
read about fishing in NZ.
:)
Posted by: jaspar at December 18, 2004 07:26 PM