Winter has taken hold of the North. Temperatures hover in the single digits and snow is always in the back of everyone’s mind, with the potential of making any travel dreadful. A recent pile-up in Michigan involved nearly 200 vehicles.
Turning my attention close to home, I lit a fire and browsed the book shelf. This wasn’t a day to explore new territories; like a favorite movie viewed a dozen times, a good book is never finished, and I intended to start with an old favorite.
Over the course of my life, I’ve often struggled to find literature that truly represents what I perceive fishing, particularly bass fishing, to be. Spare me the snore-fest of today’s periodicals, complete with printed and reprinted stories of using Colorado blades in muddy water. I’ve always longed for something more.
Such a quest led me to several books and manuals that I will never get rid of. Many have been carried on the road so long the covers have fallen off. While I often send other particularly interesting volumes to friends, I don’t loan these out.
Here’s reading I’ve found to be irreplaceable, in no particular order:
"Diary of a Bass Pro," by Joe Thomas with Tim Tucker
This book takes us through the 1991-92 Bassmaster Tour season with Ohio pro Joe Thomas. At the time, Thomas recorded all of his daily experiences into a voice recorder to compile this work. It is extremely detailed, with an insight into how a traveling professional fisherman approaches unfamiliar water. The fishing approach may be a little dated by today’s standards, but nothing has ever come close to matching the inside elements of this book.
"Sowbelly," by Monte Burke
This book details the other side of pro bass fishing that seems to have lost its spot in the limelight lately: the pursuit of the world record largemouth. It’s a hardcore work that gives insight into the legends of the West, who couldn’t care less about 20-pound bags but instead focused on 20-pound bites.
"Rick Clunn’s Angler’s Quest Journals" – various contributors
While it’s unfair of me to include reading no one can likely obtain, I had to put these on my list. The four-volume set was a supplement to Clunn’s Angler’s Quest angling awareness school and, I believe, also available for purchase at the time. They include everything from short stories by Native American shamans to detailed outlines of pattern fishing. Like anything Clunn has ever been involved in, when released, these were way ahead of their time in the mental movement in pro fishing, and ultra-cool.
"Doug Hannon’s Big Bass Magic," by Doug Hannon with W. Horace Carter
“She is what bass fishermen refer to as a 'hawg', or 'monster.' So completely does she dwarf the male sharing her nest that I’m reminded of those mouse-meets-elephant jokes. As if on cue, the female arches her back and flares her gills, a familiar spawning ritual, but one that never fails to send chills up my spine. How big? Easily 16 pounds, maybe 18.
“It’s the dark moon of March and spawning time for the big river bass. Tomorrow, I’ll fish where there are no beds, but for now, I’m just looking.”
No one was ever able to approach Doug Hannon’s ability to capture the feel of the recluse trophy hunter. Hannon spent a lifetime studying and fishing for giant bass in relative isolation from the preconceived notions of “modern” bass fishing. This work details his finest teachings and greatest stories.
"The Legend of Bagger Vance," by Steven Pressfield
Yes, I know this book is about golf. But I was turned onto it by an incredibly accomplished angler who seems to win monster bass tournaments with unheard of regularity. In this book, I found something that lacks explanation by logical thinking, as if unable to be conjured by a brain without some outside help.
While The Legend of Bagger Vance contains not a single word about fishing, the underlying message is one we’ve seen in sports, as well as other human pursuits, for decades: All the answers and talent already lie within the brain and body; it’s simply a matter of tapping into them.
If you’ve seen the movie with Will Smith, while entertaining, it does no justice to the details in the book. I encourage it for those with an open mind – or a desire to have one.
"In Pursuit of Giant Bass," by Bill Murphy
Murphy was a legendary big bass fisherman in California and spent thousands of hours pursuing giant fish. Like Hannon, Murphy’s writings convey an opinion not swayed by outsiders, but instead driven only by his personal findings. A true purist in his approach, Murphy gives readers an understanding of how little we really know about the complexities of bass, and how grossly we underrate their natural instincts. A must for structure fishermen of any bass species, anywhere in the world.
"Bass Wars," by Nick Taylor
Bass Wars tells the non-fictional story of professional bass fishing in the mid 1980s through a series of competitors, including Rick Clunn, Randy Moseley, Randy Blaukat and others. It’s my understanding that its author was an accomplished writer who had no exposure to this bizarre world prior to diving in head-first to compile the story.
The timeline is that of Clunn’s rising dominance in pro fishing. Remember Clunn, often heralded as one of B.A.S.S.' biggest stars, also won a Red Man All-American title and twice won the U.S. Open during this time. He was truly the best in the world during this period, especially when competing in bass fishing’s highest-paying events.
More importantly, Bass Wars takes an unparalleled look into Clunn’s journey to reach a higher mental state in his fishing. Here, Clunn is deeply entrenched in the learning process of what is termed as “the perfectibility of his intuition.” During this period, Clunn had visualized wins prior to their occurrence, and was attempting to take his competitive fishing to a higher level through visualization and intuitive action.
Saving this book for the last spot on my list was intended, as I feel it’s the single greatest work ever written about tournament bass fishing. Despite its age, readers get a true understanding of the sacrifices made by full-time touring pros, and their constant quest to unlock the secret to becoming a champion.
Dig in, my friends. You won’t be disappointed.
(Joe Balog is the often outspoken owner of Millennium Promotions, Inc., an agency operating in the fishing and hunting industries. A former Bassmaster Open and EverStart Championship winner, he's best known for his big-water innovations and hardcore fishing style. He's a popular seminar speaker, product designer and author, and is considered one of the most influential smallmouth fishermen of modern times.)
