FISHING TIPS FOR FRESHWATER FISHING

Kugach carries forward the outdoors magazine tradition of angling technique presented as illustrated "tips"—small-format, b&w graphic lessons, fish facts, tackle repair tips, rigs, knots and 300-odd other small on-pond-and-river strategies for bass, perch and panfish. Most of the collected tips have previously appeared in Midwestern angling magazines and tackle catalogues, but presented here in an accessible paperback format, they make an enjoyable angling guide, tantalizing for younger anglers setting out for the farm pond or local stream. Adults will find frugal homemade shortcuts and the traditional emphasis on angler self-sufficiency, like using Chuck Wagon dog food as bait. Tackle repair is the reason this format was invented in the 1950s, and Kugach's repair tips are necessarily brief emergency fixes. Kugach (Fishing Basics; Fly-Tier's Pattern Book) writes to the real angling iceberg under the fly-fishing market, the numerically larger population who fish with worms, pork rinds, live insects and minnows to catch and eat (there are 30-plus recipes and cleaning tips). Most of these primer-level graphic lessons scarcely need even Kugach's "see Dick fish" simplistic captions, however, and far too many are obvious to an experienced angler. (Jan.)