Renowned fishing guide Barney Farley worked the Texas coastal
waters out of Port Aransas for more than half a century. In these
stories and reflections, Farley imparts a lifetime of knowledge
about fish—silver trout, sand trout, speckled trout, redfish, ling,
catfish, jack, kingfish, you name it—and gives advice about
how to fish, where to fish, and when to fish.
Perhaps no one could chronicle the changes in sport and
commercial fishing along the Central Texas Coast more ably and
more passionately than Farley. When he came to Texas in 1910, he
reported that he could get in a rowboat and using only a push pole,
make his way "to the fishing grounds and catch a hundred pounds
or more of trout and redfish" in a few hours. A couple of years
later, the shrimp trawlers arrived. As they plied the Gulf in
increasing numbers, they depleted the shrimp populations in the
bays, and Farley watched the fish move farther and farther
offshore, following their ever more elusive food source.
From his perspective in the mid-1960s, Farley was not satisfied
simply to lament the disappearance of once-abundant species. He
also strongly voiced his views on the need for conservation. Many
of the problems he identified are still with us, and some of the
solutions he prescribed have since been adopted.
This book is both an appealing reminiscence and a cautionary
tale. Anyone who cares about fishing and the health of the Gulf's
waters will find an authoritative and completely engaging voice in
Barney Farley.
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BARNEY FARLEY was a Port Aransas fishing guide whose
memories and stories about fishing the Texas coast were originally
written in the 1960s for his family and friends. Their posthumous
publication is supported by the Harvey Weil Sportsman
Conservationist Award Trust of Corpus Christi.
Number Three: Gulf Coast Studies, sponsored by Texas A&M
University—Corpus Christi
What people are saying about this book
"Barney's instructions and tips on how to catch fish consistently
are as appropriate today as when Barney was a guide."—from the
introduction by Larry McEachron
"The importance of Barney Farley's book to conservation and sport
fishing, as well as to the economic well-being of our Texas and Gulf
Coast, cannot be over-emphasized."—Dick Conolly
"Barney Farley is truly a legendary sport fisherman of our Gulf
coast. His views on conservation of marine resources back 60 years
are remarkably accurate today."—Richard King
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