Going Fishing

by Negley Farson, C.F. Tunnicliffe (Illustrator)

Negley Farson's career took him from the US to the UK and to Europe, and this book follows his movements in a series of cameos each of which is keenly depicted by a master of the English language. A bit of a travelogue, and is full of nostalgic images of how things were in the 20th century's first half.

From surf casting on the Jersey coast as a boy to fishing experiences in four continents, -- flyfishing the headwaters of the Kuban in the upper Caucasus, casting for Rainbow trout in South Chile, fishing for striped bass, for small mouth and large mouth bass, fishing for necessary food in British Columbia, in Vancouver, salmon fishing in Scotland and in the Shetlands, fishing with the Serbs on the Danube, stream fishing in the West Coast country of England, joining forces with village fishing clubs in rural France, adventures in Norway, in Yugoslavia, in Ireland -- a far flung sport, with every opportunity of a varied background made the most of.

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1940

About the author

At one time considered one of North America’s most intrepid journalists, Farson is probably little known today to most readers under the age of 50. Farson was raised by his eccentric grandfather, the notorious Civil War General James Negley who ‘made other men look like mongrel dogs.’ With such a colourful family background, it should have come as no surprise that young Negley was not only expelled from college but immediately emigrated on to England.

The excitement of the First World War soon lured him even further afield. The young student, now turned journalist, soon showed up in Russia and was present in Red Square the day the Bolshevik Revolution broke out. Farson went on to become one of the most renowned foreign correspondents of his day. He covered a host of varied and exciting world events including interviewing Gandhi in India, witnessing bank-robber John Dillinger’s naked body in the morgue just after he had been shot down by Hoover’s men, and meeting Hitler, who described Farson’s small blond son, Daniel, as a “good Aryan boy.”
A renowned fly-fisherman, Farson’s private life was just as turbulent as his journalism career. He partied with F. Scott Fitzgerald and supposedly out-drank Ernest Hemingway

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of good fishing stories from places all over the world. Even thought it was written many years ago, many fishing ideas and tactics remain the same.

[Jim Woolwine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a fisherman but a book lover who devours good reads. This is one. Farson's descriptions of the locales and characters therein where he fishes (around the world) are perfectly drawn.

[JAMES AKER · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine socializing with F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, drinking Ernest Hemingway under the table, speaking with Mohandas K. Gandhi and witnessing The Mahatma’s arrest in Poona, India by British colonial forces, standing witness to the Bolshevik revolution in Petrograd, and meeting and talking with Adolf Hitler. Imagine being one of the reporters called to identify John Dillenger’s body after he was betrayed by the “Lady in Red” and killed in a gun fight with Melvin Purvis and his FBI Agents in front of Chicago’s Biograph Theater. Truly, it is not often a Jersey boy gets to take part in such things but James Negley Farson born in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1890 did them all and much more. The account of his fascinating life is told in his two volume autobiography "The Way Of a Transgressor" and "A Mirror for Narcissus". But, we will instead, dear reader, examine yet another side of Negley Farson’s multifaceted and intriguing career.


Raised by his eccentric grandfather, American Civil War General and US Congressman James Negley , Negley Farson became one of the nations most renowned foreign correspondents reporting from far outposts all over the world . Farson worked at many professions and did many things, after being expelled from the University of Pennsylvania. But during that period between the Great War and World War II he joined the fourth estate and was employed by the Chicago Daily News as a foreign correspondent and reporter. He made his base in England and served in Egypt, India and throughout Europe and the world. Wherever Farson hung his hat , at least two things went with him, his reliable typewriter and his fly rod.
Renowned for his skill as an angler as well as a reporter, Farson penned what is today considered to be one of the classics of fishing literature, his 1942 edition called Going Fishing. "This is just the story of some rods and the places they take you to." , the author tells us in the opening paragraph of his premier work on angling, but it is much more than that. Frason’s adventurous spirit is alive in every line and paragraph of this memoir of his piscatorial exploits. It is not only autobiographical, but it serves well as a travelogue and as a study in anthropology profiling ethnic peoples in their native habitat.


Traveling on assignment Farson never let his work interfere with his fishing. Where he found good water, there he fished, and in trim and pictorial prose, he illustrates his escapades no matter if he was in revolutionary Russia, or on the back of a horse in the Caucasus’, or living close to the bone in British Columbia. His work speaks as much about the journeys as the destinations. He takes us on the road with him as he and his “ Magic Wand”” as he called his rods, travel from the Jersey Shore and strippers in the surf, to the source waters of the Kuban river near Mt. Elbrus in Russia. We ride beside him in the Balkans and spend idyllic days wandering about Scotland, Ireland, and England in search of salmonid delights. We stand with him in the shadow of an erupting volcano in Chile and in the umbra of the rocky fissured fjords in the pyrogeneous landscape of Norway.


Going Fishing is perhaps the archetype fishing and travel book and it is easily one of the finest examples of the genre. Though dated, it is well worth the read for fireside anglers everywhere.

(c)2008 J.C. Aker