It’s a daunting project that Project Gutenberg & Google has undertaken, scanning all the books in the world and making them available online. It’s not without incident considering they already incurred $124 million in infringed copyrights – but they’re forging ahead undaunted.

With Amazon’s Kindle creating quite the stir over Christmas, and competitors lining up to enter similar products into the mix – it appears we’ll have the opportunity to add to our fishing library virtually.

As my vision is on the wane – I can’t admit to comfort while straining over a dimly backlit screen, but it’s likely to intrude more each decade.

There’s quite a few famous angling tomes already available, and many out of print classics that are unavailable to anyone other than collectors.

George Kelson – The Salmon Fly, how to Dress it and how to Use it (1895)

G.E.M. Skues –  The Way of the Trout with the Fly (1921) and Modern Development of the Dry Fly (1910)

Mary Orvis Marbury – Favorite Trout Flies and their Histories

George M. LaBranche – The Dry Fly and Fast Water (1914)

Frederick M. Halford – Floating Flies and How to Dress Them (1886)

There are many hundreds of titles, some you may have never heard of – and the tags under each allow you to refine your search to specific areas of the online collection. Most of the books are old enough to no longer be copyrighted, and it makes sense that Google would want to avoid all the litigation until it’s determined how the author will receive compensation.

Kelson’s book on the Salmon Fly is still considered the Bible of the married wing, eyeless hook crowd. You can download it for free in PDF form versus paying $500 for an old copy.

I’ve read many of these and am continually fascinated over the convictions of their authors. Adding a certain perspective to read, “the Salmon, being the noblest of all fishes, eat Butterflies …” – then grab a copy of a current magazine and read, “they eat leeches because …”

… and in a hundred years will some fellow be giggling over our assumptions?

Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times.  – Gustav Flaubert

Anglers today shrink from the old tomes as being antiquated and out of date – and while the language may be archaic, the lessons are still current.

Download a fistful of PDF’s and fish the turn-of-the-century Catskills, or a Irish freshet for sea run trout – then tuck them away as reference materials or simply a good read.

Tags: Project Gutenberg, Google Internet Book Archive, copyright, George Kelson, G.E.M. Skues, Mary Orvis Marbury, George M. LaBranche, Frederick M. Halford, Amazon Kindle, out of print angling books

While the massed regiments of printed media reel about in disarray, the agile “angling Taliban” are up to new, better, bigger, and more…

The checkout counter at Safeway lost three stalwarts in Gourmet, Elegant Bride, and Shotgun Wedding – they’ll no longer glare back at our 12 pack and sack of ice during a pre-dawn departure. Conde Nast has shuttered their doors in recent weeks due to the economics of the dead tree phenom.

On the web, angling offerings are on the upward tick, my blogroll swollen with recent additions, and the debut of yet another online community:

In a nutshell, it’s what you’d get if you crossed an online magazine with a blog network with facebook with craig’s list with ebay with a forum with youtube, etc.  Deep breath.

Alex Cerveniak of 40 Rivers to Freedom and the Will Mullis’ Hatches magazine empire have combined to introduce FlyAddicts.com – a nice mix of blogs, articles, forum, and e-zine.

Like you, the bulk of my lunch hour is spent nursing a tasteless sandwich and a warm Coke – keeping abreast of this surge of online content. Often surprised and rarely disappointed – just what’s needed to combat the onset of Winter sloth.

Tags: Alex Cerveniak, 40 Rivers to Freedom, Will Mullis, Hatches Magazine, flyaddicts.com, conde nast shutters Gourmet, online angling community

If your tailing loop is more convoluted than most or a gob of pancake makeup will make you prettier than Brad Pitt, you might consider being immortalized on celluloid. Unfortunately you’ll have to live somewhere near Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York State …

Kype magazine is looking for ardent salmon-steelhead anglers to feature in their magazine and forthcoming DVD.

Kype is currently searching for two anglers at each fishing location along their upcoming film tour to fish side by side with Publisher and film producer, George Douglas. “This is not your typical guide trip,” said Douglas. “This is an opportunity for anglers of all levels to showcase their fishing adventure and help kids at the same time.”

The camera crew will capture you and your adventure on film to be used for national distribution. In addition to highlighting this amazing sport and providing viewers with great fishing action, the underlying theme in this series is to capture the typical or not so typical day in an angler’s life that often includes the frustrations met on the river, to the evening celebration of the big catch. Similar to reality-TV filming, Kype’s film crew documents each aspect of these trips while bringing out unique personalities and the perseverance that drives anglers to their next hook-up.

… loosely translated it suggests they might not dub over your swear words and anything confessed while inebriated will be shared with the balance of the planet posthaste.

Kype apparently sponsors Thetugisthedrug.org angling community,  if you don’t embarrass yourself on celluloid – you’ve got a couple more chances in different mediums…

I can’t apply as they’ve used “the tug is the drug”, “tight lines” and “rip lips” on a single page. I’m allergic to all three, combined they’re Kryptonite to us dirty water anglers.

Tags: Kype magazine, thetugisthedrug.org, drug free fishing, new guys, trite angling phrases, fly fishing movie, Brad Pitt

I’m an unapologetic supporter of the eZine format. Hard copy is good, but eventually they are dog-eared, foodstained, crumpled, and left in the bathroom – where some non-fisherperson seizes them for a quick journey to the trash can.

I like them because the online marketplace features content and authors that don’t fit the traditional mold. With minimal startup costs editors of fly fishing eZines are less afraid to risk uncommon topics and engage unknown authors – giving us rabid angling types a chance to do something other than flip the pages.

“Fishing the [Insert Famous River Here] River” or “ Indicators for Monstrous [Insert Trophy Salmonid Name Here] have had a couple of decades – and I don’t mind seeing what the new guy is using or the water he calls home.

I’ll credit the younger crowd for the new attitude, the quickness to adopt the new medium and much of the “in your face” bravado. Occasionally it may rub us the wrong way but us older crowd need a good shaking to keep us invigorated

This is Fly and Catch come to mind – and while you may not care for every article, author, or posture – they’re bringing technology and a new viewpoint to some of our hoary old traditions – and that’s refreshing change.

Our mainstream media has inbred to the point of predictability – and with many newspapers and magazines struggling in the current economic climate, we’re quite close to realizing a largely paperless subscription model.

Today marks the debut issue of “Fish Can’t Read” the latest fly fishing eZine. and I’ll donate a lunch hour and sandwich to peruse the virgin issue despite it being not work related…

… and when the Web Gendarmes call me on the phone to rattle their manacles in my ear, I’ll respond in characteristic flavor, “… glad you boys pointed that out – stop by the cafeteria on your way up as I could use more Mustard.”

Let’s give the New Kid a warm welcome … because something about him is so very familiar …

Tags: Fishcantread.com, Fish Cant Read magazine, This is Fly, Catch, ezine, online fly fishing magazine