Book Review 

Remember when, as a kid, you used to wander the woods looking and looking and looking?  Remember how inquisitive you were-wondering at how smooth the skin of the salamander you found felt or how the forest smelled after a rain?  It's this sort of wandering and wondering that Charles Fergus, author of seventeen books-most about the out-of-doors, does for a living.  Wander and wonder, research and write; that's Fergus' formula. 

A special formula it is, indeed.  Although Fergus is a self-described curmudgeon, he strikes me as more a gentle iconoclast bent on packing as much observation and learning about nature as he can into his time on planet earth.  Fergus is one of those authors whom you not only feel you know after reading his work but someone with whom you would like to spend a bunch of time.

Credit for my discovering Charles Fergus goes to my outdoor literary mentor, Glen Blackwood, owner of Great Lakes Fly Fishing Company, and the regular author of this RiverQuest book review column.  Glen teaches outdoor literature at an esteemed liberal arts college in Grand Rapids, Michigan-Calvin College.  I have no doubt Glen inspires his young charges to explore the literary fields he loves no less effectively than he does me.

Thornapples is a compilation of thirty-four of Fergus' best essays from the monthly column of the same title he wrote for fifteen years for the Pennsylvania Game News.  Written in the first person, the short pieces allow the reader to see the natural world as Fergus views it with all its extraordinary detail, order, and surprises.  The title, I suspect, is autobiographical.  "A curmudgeon," writes Fergus in his first compilation, The Wingless Crow, "is intractable, adament, opinionated, out-spoken, and set aside from the normal mass of humanity." ...Among animals, ravens are curmudgeons.  So are crows...." 

Fergus writes admiringly of crows:  "Crows have managed to alienate humankind to a degree achieved by few other animals.  Crows seem to laugh off the danger inherent in such bad blood, bend under the accompanying persecution, and prosper despite it."  Not unlike, I suppose, how Charles Fergus likes to see himself-the "Wingless Crow."

So, I highly recommend both books.  One reader reported reading an essay a night before retiring for the evening.  Another noted how Fergus helped him realize that, despite having lost the use of both legs, he could still marvel at nature and enjoy its bountiful diversity.

For me, The Wingless Crow and Thornapples are beloved tools-means by which to visualize and comprehend the out-of-doors with the sensibility, skills, and savvy of a guy who is a professional observer of country and wilderness life.  When I walk the woods, I'm oblivious to nearly all of what Fergus sees.  If I do happen to see something out of what I regard as the ordinary, I take note; rarely do I, though, wonder at something which otherwise to me seems pedestrian.  Reading The Wingless Crow and Thornapples, however, gives me Fergus' trained eye, his industrious research into that which he has experienced, and the pleasure of meeting the memorable characters who enrich Fergus' life afield.  Indeed, the books challenge me to slow down, take note, and appreciate all that makes the out-of-doors what we love so dearly.

The Wingless Crow, published by Lyons & Burford, is available in paperback for $14.95, and Thornapples, published by Stackpole Books in paperback, is $16.95.  Both may be purchased at Glen Blackwood's Rockford, Michigan fly shop, Great Lakes Fly Fishing Company.  If you stop in to buy one or both of the books, bend Glen's ear about Charles Fergus and other works Glen might recommend for you.  You'll be glad you did.

Tom Kuieck 

 Great Gear-

Umpqua's Boat Boxes

Storing streamers in an organized fashion has always been challenging. Compartmentalized boxes tangles hairs and fibers on wispy patterns and fouls hooks on the thick bodies of others. Heeding the call from anglers abroad, Umpqua took note and released a streamer box that is sure to please. Although boxes of this size, shape, and type are not new, Umpqua included a feature all ther own into these boxes-an exterior sloted foam panel that allows streamers to be dried prior to placing them back in the box. As a fly fishing guide, this feature gets my attention and respect and warrants the boxes the tiltle of Great Gear!

To purchase one of these sweet boxes, visit one of our regional fly shop affiliats.

Great Gear-Abel Fly Reels

Surely, many of you know Abel reels, and their price tags that make most of us cringe. Indeed, have you ever wondered if they were really all that much better than the reel you are currently fishing?

Allow me to introduce you to a program called the Abel Challenge. Abel is so confident that you will be blown away by the performace of their fly reels, that they have supplied their dealers with "challenge reels" that they want you to test drive. Simply head over to your area fly shop and give one a workout on the river. Here's betting that not only will your test drive show you why Abel is the best fly reel made, it will make make your next reel purchase more problematic. Cost versus quality; that will be your decision. 

For the past 16 years as a professional fly fishing guide, my Abel reels have kept my customers smiling with posed fish for the camera. Never once have I had one let me down. We are blessed today with excellent reels from a number of manufacturers, but I cannot recommend Abel fly reels highly enough.  

You wouldn't buy a car without a test drive; you shouldn't buy a fly reel without one, too! Stop by one of our regional affiliate fly shops today and take the Abel Challenge.

Steve Kuieck