Titles Worthy Of Your Bookshelf

Numerous books about outdoor-oriented subjects continue to emerge from publishers’ presses. Here are some of the most interesting and useful published the last few months:

Tying the Classic Salmon Fly, edited by Michael D. Radencich, published by Stackpole Books, $50. A perfectly tied classic salmon fly is as pleasing to the eye as a beautiful, sensual woman. In fact, a high percentage of the classics now being tied by the nation’s top tiers are never fished. They’re displayed in cases.

To an amateur tier, the superb color pictures of the fly patterns in this 240-page book, a classic itself, are as beautiful as a painting by a Flemish or French master. But there’s a practical side to the book. Tying a perfect pattern, whether it’s meant for display or for fishing, can be soul-satisfying as well as economically rewarding.

Detailed step-by-step procedures for tying the intricate, colorful patterns are illustrated in large, full-color pictures. There are chapters on dyeing materials, hooks and matting and framing flies.

Fish & Shellfish Care & Cookery, by Kenn Oberrecht, published by Stoeger Publishing Co. $19.95. This excellent 328-page book contains all you need to know about the care and cooking of fish. The author has included more than 400 recipes covering numerous methods of shellfish and fish cookery. He also tells how to preserve seafood by canning, curing, freezing, pickling and smoking. The how-to book is illustrated with scores of helpful pictures.

Fishing Bamboo, by John Gierach, published by The Lyons Press, $16.95. John Gierach, author of 11 books on fly fishing and scores of magazine articles, is a superb salesman. Admittedly prejudiced in favor of bamboo rods, he’s so persuasive that many a reader might be tempted to sell his or her expensive graphite rods and order a bamboo rod.

His 112-page book is one of several about bamboo rods published the last few years. Although there are only a few big, well known firms now making bamboo fly rods, he says, there are hundreds of craftsmen throughout the United States and Canada turning out excellent rods made of Tonkin bamboo.

If Gierach has his way, bamboo’s time will come again.

The Sierra Club Guide to the Natural Areas of Oregon & Washington, by John Perry and Jane Greverus Perry, published by Sierra Club Books, $15. First published in 1983, this outstanding guide has been updated and redesigned. It’s a must guide for those seeking out-of-the-way places to enjoy. The publisher also has updated its “The Sierra Club Guide to the Natural Areas of California,” also $15.

How to Fish from Top to Bottom, by Sid W. Gordon, published by Stackpole Books, $29.95. When this book was first published in 1955 by a relatively unknown fly fisher, it was praised as an excellent book for beginning anglers. Although Gordon wrote the book more than 40 years ago, nearly everything he wrote about is as true today as it was in his heyday.

Sketching in Nature, by Cathy Johnson, published by Sierra Club Books, $20. If you like to make sketches of scenery, animals, birds and other things you see while traveling or hiking, this excellent 228-page paperback book by an artist who has written 17 books on art and nature should help you improve your techniques.

The Shooter’s Bible, Gun Trader’s Guide and The Complete Guide to Compact Handguns, all published by the Stoeger Publishing Co. Sportsmen, marksmen and gun collectors will add these three excellent books to their libraries.

The 1998 edition of The Gun Trader’s Guide, $22.95, has details of more than 5,300 guns produced this century by American and foreign gun makers. It’s an ideal reference book.

As usual, the new edition of The Shooter’s Bible, $22.95, has a listing of gun makers’ specifications and retail prices of all major brands. It also has feature articles and useful information on scopes, reloading equipment and ammunition.

Complete Guide to Compact Handguns, by Gene Gangarosa Jr., published by Stoeger Publishing Co.,$22.95. If you’re thinking of buying a handgun and don’t know what make or model to consider, you should get enough information from this 288-page book to make an intelligent decision. The author has included information on and pictures about hundreds of revolvers and pistols.

, DataTimes MEMO: You can contact Fenton Roskelley by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 3814.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Fenton Roskelley The Spokesman-Review