Giant Salmon: A Record of the Largest Atlantic Salmon Ever Caught

Giant Salmon: A Record of the Largest Atlantic Salmon Ever Caught Review

The true fish tales of record Atlantic salmon fly catches around the world.

Fred Buller has spent four decades pursuing stories of Atlantic salmon weighing 50 pounds and more -sometimes a great deal more. This handsome book records every salmon weighing that much, so far as Buller has been able to discover, that has ever been caught on a fly. These true, and truly impressive, fish tales are about all sorts of fishers throwing their lines in Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Canada.

Each catch is numbered and told as a separate story using interviews, correspondence, published accounts, archival photographs and other reliable sources. Maps show the catch locations, and tables present the statistics clearly. Wherever possible, Buller has photographed the site where the battle between fish and angler occurred. In some cases, he has commissioned replicas of the successful fly. Often he has been able to include a photograph of the victor, or the cased fish, or both.

In addition to "Salmon Over 50 Pounds Caught on the Fly" and "Salmon Between 50 and 60 Pounds, Method Uncertain," Buller has compiled a section on "Salmon Over 60 pounds Caught by Any Method" -- an astonishing 152 stories of enormous fish caught by fly, bait, net or poaching. And notto exclude those who try, Buller also includes "Tales of Lost Fish."

Giant Salmon is a piscatorial scholarship unlikely to be rivaled. It is an affectionate testament to a world that is fast disappearing -- of great catches and huge fish.

(20081204)