"The Colonial Angler's Manual of Flyfishing & Flytying" by Ken Reinard is a fascinating & informative book for anyone interested in early American fly fishing. Mr. Reinard is an expert on the subject & is the premier reenact-er of the colonial angler. The book gives a general overview of who fished & how they fished back in the 18th century. But then the book also goes into detail about the various techniques & tackle the angler used back then.
We learn from this book how fishing rods were made & what made a good rod for anglers then. Ken also tells & shows how to make your own fishing rod exactly as the colonists would have. From there we learn about horse hair lines, how they were used, how to braid your own, & even which hairs on the horse are best for fishing line. Next the book describes in great detail how hooks were made in colonial times. Anglers made & shaped their own hooks back then & Mr. Reinard describes in great detail how to do this. He also shows photos of every step in the process & the few & simple tools you'll need to do it yourself.
The next section of the book discusses the flies that the colonial angler would have used. Here, we learn not only the names & histories of different flies for each month of the year, but also how to tie them in the traditional method. The colonial angler didn't use a vise or other tools that we take for granted today to tie his flies. Here Ken shows us the way a proper colonial fly was tied.
This book is also a wonderful reference for those of you who want to learn even more about the history of angling. It's packed full of resources & contacts for information that every researcher will appreciate. Along with the many photos in this book it's a great tool for learning about colonial angling.
The current status of this book's publishing is a mystery to me. It may be out of print right now. Either way, I couldn't find a current publisher listing this book. However, there are still places to get it at a fair price. For instance you could check it out at Amazon, or purchase it form the Elk County Historical Society. Now matter where you get it, if you're the least bit interested in colonial history or the history of angling, I think you'll really enjoy this book. Mr. Reinard has done a superb job in writing it & we are all the better for it. I highly recommend "The Colonial Angler's Manual of Flyfishing & Flytying" by Ken Reinard.