The American Angler's Book


The American Angler's Book Embracing 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 first published in 1864. Norris was known as Uncle Thad and commonly referred to in American angling history as "The American Walton".

Synopsis

The American Angler's Book provides encyclopedic coverage of all aspects of fishing as practiced in North America in the mid-1800s. It covers tackle, techniques, target species and the best fishing locations. It has been credited with being the first significant American work to cover aspects of fly fishing.

Reviews

Shortly after its publication, the New York Times praised the work as encyclopedic and well illustrated on the subject of angling.
In his 1901 work My Angling Friends, pisciculturist Fred Mather wrote of Norris:
In a survey of the at Central Michigan University these comments were made on Norris's work in The American Angler's Book:

Contents

  • Chapter I Angling
  • Chapter II General Remarks on Fish
  • Chapter III Tackle in General
  • Chapter IV The Perch Family-Percidae
  • Chapter V The Pike Family
  • Chapter VI The Carp Family-Cyprinidae
  • Chapter VII The Herring Family Clupeidae
  • Chapter VIII Catfish and Eels
  • Chapter IX The Salmon Family Salmonidae
  • Chapter X Salt-water and Fishing
  • Chapter XI Trout Fly-Fishing—Outfit and Tackle
  • Chapter XII Trout Fly-Fishing—The Stream
  • Chapter XIII Salmon Fishing
  • Chapter XIV Salmon Rivers of the British Provinces
  • Chapter XV Repairs, Knots, Loops and Receipts
  • Chapter XVI Fly-Making
  • Chapter XVII Rod-Making
  • Chapter XVIII Fish Breeding
  • Dies Piscatoriae
  • * The "Houseless Anglers"
  • * The Noonday Roast
  • ** First Nooning—Trout-fishing in Hamilton County, New York
  • ** Second Nooning—Trout-fishing in New Hampshire
  • ** Third Nooning—Trout-fishing in the regions of Lake Superior
  • ** Fourth Nooning—Trout-fishing in the Adirondacks
  • * Fly-Fishing Alone
  • * The Angler's Sabbath
  • * Conclusion

Editions

  • First - 1864 published by Butler, Philadelphia
  • Second - 1865 published by Porter & Coates, Philadelphia
  • Third - 1868 published by Porter & Coates, Philadelphia
  • Printings by Porter & Coates, Philadelphia 1881, 1886, 1891
  • Limited Edition Reprint, 1994 by Derrydale Press, New York
  • Excerpts - Norris on Trout Fishing: A Lifetime of Angling Insights Edited by Paul Schullery